


'Til The Stars Burn Blue

by SportsnAnimeManiac (sktrgrl13)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Again, Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Guess Which is Which, Hunter Clan, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith Just Forgot Lance, M/M, Magic, Slow Burn, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Soul Bond, Take Over the World Stuff, Team as Family, but not really, gods and demons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-06 16:32:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14060943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sktrgrl13/pseuds/SportsnAnimeManiac
Summary: In a world consumed by war and fear, everyone is always hoping for the Light to win against the Dark...but what happens when the saviour doesn't know he has to save the world to begin with?





	1. The Turn of the Wheel of Fate

**Author's Note:**

> Ohayo Minna~
> 
> Well technically it's night time, but meh... it's morning somewhere...  
> Just wanted to let you know that if you did not watch S5 yet, you do not want to read this right away -- there is a character mentioned that you may not know exists yet (that is if you live under a rock...JKJK :P) 
> 
> I really hope you enjoy this story! I'll try and update as much as possible, but as I work a lot of hours and it dedicates the majority of the time I truly cannot make any promises!
> 
> I apologise for any OOC-ness that appears in the future!
> 
> ENJOY <3

A woman cloaked in deep purple hid amongst the shadows as three robbed figures gathered around her silently. Although it was clear that they were her followers, there was a sense of apprehensiveness in the air. It was as if the atmosphere had been pulled so tight, that it was going to snap like a fragile piece of thread. The woman’s platinum blonde hair hung in her amber eyes as she stared expectantly at her druids. 

“You are going to tell me what I want to know,” She muttered authoritatively; her hands twitching at her sides, “Otherwise, things might not work out in your favour.”

One of the druids stiffened as if expecting to be struck while the other two just continued to stare on ahead; their masks not revealing any fear that they might have felt. This  _ demon _ was not one to be trifled with; she was almost as terrifying as the King of Demons himself. 

But, what would one expect of the lover of said King?

There was only one being in the world that had the power to stop her, to stop  _ Him _ , and that’s exactly why she had turned up; she wanted to know  _ who  _ held that power.

“I know I don’t have the power to foresee what is come to pass, but you three do; that is the sole reason why both The King and myself saved you from that wretched place all those years ago. It is time for you to repay us for that kindness.”

This time, they had all flinched at the accusation.

They  _ knew _ that they would still be in the gutter if it weren’t for the Empire…

If it weren’t for the King and his Consort…

But this couldn’t be  _ right _ could it?

“Now,” She continued without preamble; as if their response was not relevant in any way, “if you don’t tell me what I want to know, the pain you felt back then will be a mere phantom of what you will feel once we are finished with you.”

One of the druids hissed under his breath and clenched his own fist at his side,

“You--you wouldn’t dare; you need us for other things.”

Her teeth shone almost maliciously in the moonlight as she smiled toothily at the threesome; the marks on her cheeks seeming to take on a light of their own,

“Are you truly willing to make that wager, Child of Afterthought?”

The druid’s eyes undoubtedly widened incredulously behind his mask as the threat was flung from the Demon Witch’s lips. Just by looking at his comrades, his family, he could tell that they were thinking about the consequences of disobeying her as well.

“Fine,” The druid whispered; his voice firm and crisp, “We’ll do as you ask; though the answer may not be one you would like to hear.” 

His foster brother gripped onto his arm,

“Are we sure about doing this?”

He fists clenched at his sides,

“There’s nothing else that we can do; Lady Haggar wishes to see the Truth, and no matter how ugly it may be, we must share it with her.”

The aura around the woman cloaked in deep purple, Lady Haggar, shifted as victory seemed to be within her grasp. The three fortune telling druids seemed to take a collective breath before joining hands in a circle; a deep indigo magical seal appearing beneath their feet as their magic was called upon. Haggar waited somewhat impatiently as the Child of Things Come to Pass spoke:

_ Darkness shall invoke the Call _ _   
_ _ Causing all, but one, to Fall _ …

She scowled slightly at the implications of the prophecy; it had only just started, and already she could see signs of inevitable obstacles. Although His power was infinite and unbeatable, the power of prophecy could not be overcome. There was a chance that The King would fail in establishing his reign of Darkness, and there was only two clans of beings who would hold the power to do so.

The Alteans and The Demon Slayers.

One of which that was hidden away deep in the forest.

And the other the last of its kind. 

_ Two Clans must unite as One _ _   
_ _ Joining the power of Ice and Sun… _

As the words left the Child of Present Thought’s mouth, she was certain as to who this enemy would be. If the Demon Slayers and the Alteans were to join forces, well, that could definitely mean the end of the King. However, if the entire prophecy relied on the allegiance of two elements such as Ice and Sun, then there was hope yet.

The chance of such opposing elements finding common ground in the first place was next to impossible; every skilled magic user would know that it would be pointless to even try. Haggar’s attention was brought back to the present as the final words were released by the Child of Forethought:

_ Bound by Blood, Bound by Pain _ _   
_ _ He shall bring the Light again. _

“That can’t be right.” She hissed gutturally as the words sunk into the oppressive air, “I will  **not** allow Lord Zarkon to be defeated by  _ them _ .”

Haggar called forth her own magic into her hands as a magic circle sprouted underneath her feet; purple lightning arcing through the sky. The three druids cringed as the woman’s sizzling anger brushed across their skin and seemingly melted their insides.

“I will find that  **thing** mentioned in the prophecy and I will destroy it.” She spat, “There is only one thing that can stand in Lord Zarkon’s way, and I will be sure to eradicate it before it can so much as pose as a threat.”

The druids frowned as dark mist started to collect around the woman; in moments, the shadows swallowed their ‘master’ and they were left standing alone in the clearing. The druids looked to one another briefly before removing their masks, revealing their true identities to the waning moon. 

“We need to warn him,” Thace, the Child of Present Thought, stated stoically, “and protect him in any way we can.”

The Child of Afterthought, Ulaz, nodded his head in agreement; his eyes narrowing contemplatively as he stared at the fissured ground,

“The boy will be on a road of hardship; most of which he has to be alone. We have to watch out for him and insure he stays alive. Our worlds depend on it.”

The ‘druids’ pulled up their hoods once more and started to dissolve into the shadows from whence they came; ready to begin the mission that they knew they would be stuck in for many years to come.

“By the name of Voltron and its ordained Paladins,” Kolivan, the Child of Forethought, whispered into the darkness: “We will reunite the powers of Ice and Sun and restore the Balance that Zarkon has so violently exploited.”

VLDVLDVLDVLD

She held her sleeping boy close to her chest as she walked through the thick brush of the forest. The boy’s pale face was pressed into the crook of her neck and she was pretty sure she could feel some drool on her collarbone. Krolia sighed and tried to ignore the wet feeling, instead focusing on where she was going. 

This was going against everything she was ever taught, but she had to do this; not only for the entire world, but so her little boy could have a long and healthy life. And if she was completely honest with herself, it wouldn’t be the first time that she had strayed from what she was taught as a young kit.

A sharp pang shot through her chest at the thought; she only wished that she would be able to watch her own kit grow up and make his own mistakes.

Krolia heard them before she saw them; although if she thought back on it, she would remember seeing the smoke rising into the air. Cheers and roars echoed throughout the night as a chill failed to bite at her skin; her own fiery bloodline refusing to let the cold touch her. As she stepped into the fire-filled clearing, the sounds of celebration slowly came to a stop; wary eyes glaring at her in apprehension. 

She watched as the younger godlings were hidden by their parents; a spark of annoyance igniting in her chest. It was because of moments like this that so much hate and destruction was being spread in the world. That being said, if she were in their position she would be doing the same. She felt her son shift in her arms, most likely feeling the oppressive auras of some of the strongest demons in the world; it was blatantly obvious that his slaying abilities weren’t going to take long to awaken.

“Galra,” A deep voice resounded through the clearing, “What brings you to my domain? The treaty between our kinds is still in full effect; you are aware of what could come to pass if the treaty is breached, do you not?” 

Krolia nodded with a deep frown stretching her face; her indigo eyes narrowing,

“I am aware of that Alfor, but you’ll find that we have more pressing matters than petty discrimination to deal with.”

A large red lion shifted nearby; his golden eyes blazing dangerously at the accusation. Krolia raised an eyebrow expectantly as Alfor was swallowed by fire only to reveal a tall, broad shouldered man with hair as white as snow and razor sharp sapphire eyes that glared at her when the flames managed to dissipate. The white-haired man approached her purposefully and Krolia watched the Altean King cautiously as his eyes finally fell upon the boy who was sleeping in her arms; a mixture of confusion and surprise overtaking his expression.

“Who is this young one?” He inquired curiously, “He smells of Galra blood, but at the same time he does not; in fact he smells...like a  _ Slayer?  _ I thought they had long since died out.”

Krolia rolled her eyes and shifted her grip on her baby boy,

“For one, he’s my son; as for the rest, I thought that would be pretty obvious, even for someone like yourself.”

The Altean seemed to look the boy over with calculating eyes before looking back at his clan once more. Krolia noted that the other Alteans were still weary, but some had decided to shift out of their animal forms and into their human forms as well. However, the one that caught her eye was the brown haired godling who stood near the fire beside the girl who couldn’t be anyone but Alfor’s own daughter.

From even where they stood, Krolia could tell that that boy’s sharp ocean blue eyes had not not strayed from them since the moment that they arrived. Perhaps noticing her own stare, Alfor cleared his throat to gain her attention.

“Why have you brought him here Krolia Kogane?” His eyebrows furrowed, “There has to be a reason why you’d risk his health during this time of night.”

Krolia bristled and glared at the Altean,

“You’re right and the more time I waste out here, I regret doing it, but this holds precedence over anything. Zarkon is back and the time has come to  _ act _ .”

Alfor frowned,

“That cannot be possible and even if it were, it would be up to the other Galra to fight against their Oppressors; you already know of what has been foretold and the part that I have to play...” 

“I would want nothing more than to just end it myself,” She cut him off with a growl which sent the Alteans around them into nervousness, “But it’s not my destiny either.”

Alfor’s eyebrows seemed to furrow thoughtfully once more; only now, it was on the lines of distressed:

“You mean…”

“I am to disappear after my son’s sixth birthday and my husband is to die; the Marmorites have seen it.”

All the sound that had once lingered around the clearing had completely died; the roaring fire even seemed to have dimmed. Krolia stared resolutely away from Alfor’s piercing blue eyes as the Altean stared at him in disbelief. She could almost imagine going back to the Mamorites and the Alliance to tell them all that he made the Altean King speechless.

That was sure to cause a riot. 

Alfor opened his mouth as if to say something only to pause when Krolia was forced to shift her position because her sleeping son had stirred in her arms.

The boy’s raven head lifted from his mother’s shoulder and looked around himself sleepily; his indigo eyes as deep as the night sky above them already threatening to drop closed once more. Krolia tangled her fingers soothingly in the hairs at the back of her baby boy’s neck and hummed under her breath in an almost purr. 

“Good Evening young one,” Alfor smiled kindly; all sense of frigid diplomacy gone as he looked upon her sleepy boy, “Did you have a pleasant rest?”

Her son tilted his head to the side; his thumb in his mouth and attention quickly waning,

“Yeah…”

The Altean King chuckled lightly as he reached out to pat his head; Krolia resisting the urge to growl at him protectively,

“That’s good. May I ask your name?”

The smaller raven furrowed his eyebrows for a moment and glanced up at Krolia in question. She tried to smile reassuringly at him, to put him at ease as she continued to rub his back. It must have worked, because after a few tense moments he acknowledged the Altean King quietly.

“Keef...”

“Keith?” He looked to Krolia for confirmation and when she smiled softly and nodded her head, Alfor winked playfully at her son, “What a handsome name, Keith do you want to play a game?”

A smile immediately spread across the boy’s face as he nodded his head enthusiastically; a newfound energy springing forth at the idea of  _ play _ . Krolia frowned at the Altean King, but she quickly relaxed when she realized that Alfor was simply trying to get Keith away from them so that they could have a proper conversation about things that will come to pass. 

Alfor, unexpectedly, turned towards his people and called out:

“Lance!”

For some reason, she wasn’t surprised when she saw the brown haired boy she noticed by the fire running to them. The boy skid to a stop in front of them and Krolia noticed that the godling had to be nineteen or close too it, well in human years anyway, which meant that he had just recently Frozen.

“Now Keith,” Alfor addressed the small raven in her arms, “This is my youngest son Lance; he’s really good at playing games and he’ll gladly play with you while I speak with your Mama. How do you like the sound of that?”

The small raven seemed to stare at ‘Lance’ for a few moments before resolutely nodding his head and reaching towards him. Krolia could not help but frown; Keith never warmed up to strangers this quickly. 

Even if games were involved.

As Krolia lowered him to the ground, the Galran never took her eyes off the godling as the brunet smiled at Keith almost softly. Despite the unease she had, she almost wanted to laugh at the fact that with her son being three, Keith only came up to the godling’s lower thigh. 

Instead of looking put out at the fact that he had to watch a ‘baby’, the young Altean seemed excited and up for the task. As Lance reached out to take Keith’s small hand to lead him towards the other godlings, Krolia’s eyes widened.

Bright blue and red tattoos had started to twine around Lance’s left forearm and up his bicep to stretch to his back and chest; or so she could tell from the loose blue attire he was wearing.

“What…”

“I thought that would happen.”

Krolia’s eyes narrowed as she turned to Alfor; her stance shifting from relaxed to protective in a heartbeat,

“ **What** did you think would happen? What was that?”

Alfor clicked his tongue thoughtfully before putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder,

“No matter what the Mamorites have foretold, you have one less thing to worry about.”

Krolia’s eyes wandered to her son as Lance called a ball of water to his hand and started to do tricks with it; completely mesmorising her son. Despite her apprehensiveness, she couldn’t help but feel a little endeared by the sight. A soft smile even came to her lips as she watched Keith try and chase after the floating water ball; running in between the legs of the other godlings, who had also started to relax around him.

“What do you mean?” She whispered; the tension slowly starting to leave her shoulders the longer she watched her normally timid son.

“Let’s just say,” Alfor smiled softly as he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, “Lance has been waiting for Keith for a very long time.”


	2. The Betrayal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three years have passed since Krolia introduced Keith to the Alteans, the time has come for everything to unravel.  
> Meanwhile, Lance is getting the feeling that things aren't quite right in the Clearing -- only to learn that he's right.  
> The First Prophecy is revealed in its entirety, and unfortunately, it's only the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boo!  
> This will probably be one of the fastest updates you'll ever get from me, so please, bear with me LOL  
> I try, I promise!
> 
> I got a fairly good response from last chapter, and I'm honestly surprised! I didn't think that it would get such a good reception, so it encouraged me to post this second chapter!
> 
> Here's to hoping it makes some sort of sense!
> 
> Sorry again for any OOC-ness, I truly am trying here!
> 
> Also, I took creative liberties with the names of the Adult!Shiroganes and Keith's Dad as we don't have canon names for them yet...so please don't judge me too harshly LOL <3 You're all fabulous enjoy reading!

Krolia sat on the porch, her eyes lingering on the brightening skyline as pinks and oranges started to overcome the indigo blue of the horizon. The stars had long since disappeared, along with her easiness and calm; the day had finally come. 

It was hard to believe that it has already been three years since he had approached the Alteans. 

Of course, she wasn’t expecting the young prince to imprint on Keith, but now that it has happened she couldn’t be more grateful. Now she knew she could leave and her son would have protection and someone out there who will be able to love him like he deserves.

“Krolia.”

The raven haired woman managed to suppress a jump as she turned towards the crisp voice of her childhood friend and work partner. Tsuyoshi Shirogane was leaning casually against the post at the top of the front steps; his arms folded across his chest. Krolia felt the need to laugh at his stern expression. 

Even though he portrayed the mask of nonchalance, she could tell that he was just as tense as she was. She ran her hand through her hair nervously; she should’ve known that he would be showing up sooner or later. She sighed, at least that meant she wouldn’t have to hunt him down later. 

“Yoshi,” She smirked at him, “Good to see you; how is your son?”

The raven haired male rolled his eyes,

“Let’s skip the pleasantries ‘lia, do you have any idea what day it is?”

The Galran stared at the slightly frozen floorboards of her deck and decided not to answer; even if she didn’t say anything, he would know. She could feel his grey eyes burning into the top of her skull and she was sure that he wasn’t quite through with her yet. 

She heard him sigh loudly before he walked across the porch and sat down in the wicker chair that resided beside her.

“Does Thom know?” He demanded with a huff, “I swear if you didn’t tell him you’ll have more than Zarkon and his witch to worry about.”

Krolia clenched her hands in her lap and stared at her friend out of the corner of her eye,

“He knows enough; I’m not risking the chance that he’ll be pulled into this. It’s bad enough that his bloodline puts him under scrutiny; I’m not giving Haggar another reason to target him or our son.”

Yoshi slammed a fist onto the wicker arm rest,

“What are you thinking?! You’re going to leave them! Doesn’t he deserve to know that?!”

She growled underneath her breath as she pushed herself out of her own chair and wandered over to the wooden railing that encircled the porch. She leaned against the plywood and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. 

She knew that she wouldn’t be able to keep silent this time; Yoshi wouldn’t be able to accept it if she wasn’t able to give him an answer. After all, if it weren’t for him, she would never had met Thomas and had Keith; she would still be stuck underneath Zarkon’s thumb. 

She knew that without a doubt, she wouldn’t have survived as long as she had being what and who she was without either of them. 

“Of course he does,” She hissed frustratedly, “But Keith is already losing a mother, I will not let him lose his father as well; what would you do if you were in my situation?”

Silence surrounded them; the only sound was the harsh, late autumn wind as its cold touches caressed the frost covered ground. She didn’t think he was going to respond until his calloused, pale hand landed on his shoulder. Even when they disagreed, she could always count on him to make him feel better. He was her emotional rock; he helped her with things that she wasn’t able to share with Thomas. 

“Don’t get me wrong ‘lia,” He whispered, “I want Thom to live in the dark as much as you do and I want him to be around for Keith; we both know how much he’ll need him in the future, but...”

Krolia tensed underneath his grip,

“Don’t say it…”

If possible the grip on her shoulder tightened even more,

“You know that your disappearance wasn’t the only thing that the Marmorites foretold in this whole mess.”

The Galran pounded her fist onto the fine wood causing shards of splintered wood to erupt in its wake,

“I won’t let that happen; I will not let him die. I refuse to leave Keith completely alone like that and I refuse to let some stupid  _ prophecy _ take his father’s life.”

Yoshi’s hand trailed up from her shoulder and rubbed the back of her neck soothingly,

“Your son won’t be alone; he has people who will keep him safe.”

Krolia scoffed loudly,

“And for how long? Don’t forget, you have a prophecy hanging over your head as well.”

He smiled sadly and let his hand fall limply to his side. He walked over to the railing himself and folded his arms across the wooden railing. The both of them watched as the first rays of sunlight started to touch the snow covered ground making the white particles shine like diamonds. 

“What about the Altean prince?” She glanced at her friend with a raised eyebrow; surprised that he even remembered, “They’re practically immortal and you mentioned that the prince imprinted on Keith didn’t you?”

Krolia smiled sardonically; even if her shoulders did drop a little at the mention of the Altean prince that had so eloquently immersed himself into their lives,

“You know as well as I that their lives are just as dictated by prophecy as ours are; even someone as powerful as Lance, Altean Prince or not, is strong enough to stop the wheels of Fate.”

Yoshi laughed hollowly,

“It’s amazing how our lives are controlled by something as simple as prophecy; it’s almost as if we don’t have free will at all.” 

Krolia shrugged her shoulders vaguely and narrowed her indigo eyes onto the horizon. Most of their lives seemed to be controlled by the higher powers; it was almost as if they were mindless drones who only listened to the will of their master. 

However, she knew that if Zarkon were to finally end this never ending war, it would be an eternity of slavery for both the living and the dead. If she had to give her life in order to set the path to salvation she was willing to do it.

She had to… 

“Mama?”

The Galra automatically turned her head to the now open doorway only to see Keith standing there tiredly with his blanket clutched tightly in his hand. His large, droopy eyes seemed more pronounced with the lingering touches of sleep trying to pull his eyes back closed. Krolia smiled at her son brightly before walking towards him and lifting him up in her arms. The small raven immediately wrapped his arms around his mum’s neck and buried his face into her throat.

“What are you doing up already little one?” She whispered playfully, “You’re going to be to end up sleeping part of your day away at this rate~”

“I couldn’t sleep anymore; I wasn’t tired.” He yawned loudly before pouting up at his mother, “Who’s he?”

Krolia chuckled under her breath as she carried her son over to her childhood friend,

“This is your Uncle Yoshi, Shiro’s Papa; the last time you would’ve seen him you would’ve been a baby.”

Keith tilted his head to the side and stared at him cautiously. Krolia had to hide a laugh as a cough when she took in Yoshi’s surprised expression on his face. He hadn’t seen Keith since he was a baby in the hospital; between missions for the Alliance and diplomatic meetings with the Null Government he hadn’t had the time for his own family, let alone his godson. 

“Hi there,” He greeted; his grey eyed gaze never leaving that of Keith’s, “You don’t need to be so scared; I’m not going to hurt you.” 

“I’m not scared,” Keith pouted even more and released his mother long enough to fold his arms over his little chest, “I’m not scared of nothing.” 

Yoshi chuckled and ruffled the boy’s raven hair affectionately,

“Even the monsters under your bed?”

Keith flinched and looked away from Yoshi as he bit his lip; Krolia smiled fondly at her son. Her boy wasn’t scared of much, but when it came to the ‘monsters’ under his bed it was an entirely different story. Krolia rubbed his back soothingly before placing her son on the floor. Keith clung to her pant leg and stared up at her with wide eyes. 

“Why don’t you go get ready for the day,” She whispered warmly, “Papa will be up soon and then all of us can sit down and have your birthday breakfast, yeah?”

A bright smile overtook the small raven’s face and he nodded his head enthusiastically,

“’Kay!” He turned to run back upstairs, but ended up pausing, “Is Lance coming to breakfast too?”

Krolia smiled softly and she was sure she even heard Yoshi laughing behind his hand in the background,

“Not for breakfast, but his dad said that he’ll be here for supper.”

Keith frowned for a moment at the thought, but he nodded his head nonetheless and ran back inside; his feet pattering against the hardwood floor as he moved. Krolia’s eyes followed her son’s frame until he disappeared around the corner. She turned towards her friend and saw the soft smile on his face.

“Shit,” She whispered, “I guess you can’t stay for breakfast can you? You probably haven’t even made it home yet have you?”

“I stopped by the house this morning just before coming here,” He shrugged, “I was there maybe two minutes before Hana was shoving me back out the door to come straight here. She said that Sam and Colleen were coming over with Matt and baby Katie, so there was no reason why they couldn’t entertain Takashi for a few hours at least.”

“So,” Krolia furrowed her eyebrows curiously, “Is that a ‘yes’ to breakfast then?”

He laughed deeply and touched her elbow comfortingly,

“I’ll stay as long as you need me; after all, what are brothers for?” 

She gave a small, guilty smile and nodded at him as he turned and made his way into the house. Krolia remained outside for a moment longer and watched as the sun completely breached the horizon; finally invoking the start of the end of her life as she knew it.

VLDVLDVLDVLD

Lance stood outside as the sun started to rise into the sky. His dad usually disappeared before the sun would poke its way into the early morning sky so he could start embellishing the wards, so there truly was no reason for him to be awake this early.  

But as the son of King Alfor, Lance knew that it was going to be his duty one day so he thought that he may as well get himself into the early morning mindset sooner rather than later. Usually, he would lounge around in bed for a few more hours, but today he found that he couldn’t. He just  _ knew _ that something was going to happen today and he  _ knew _ that it wasn’t going to be good. 

His father had been getting tense for days now and it has only gotten worse. 

The godling was pulled out of his musings as something seemed to unfurl in his chest; a warmth that spread through his veins and swept him into a fiery embrace. He smiled faintly as he realized that his Chosen had woken up from his slumber. 

When he was younger, he never thought he would meet his soulmate so soon after coming of age; for most godlings it took years, maybe even millennia. But Keith, Keith was there on the very day he entered ‘adulthood’. 

There was a part of him that wished that his Chosen was a little older (or a lot older) than he was, but he was going to be around throughout the entirety of Keith’s life. Be it brother, best friend and then finally lover; he would be by his side forever. 

“Hey Lance, stop thinking so hard,” A teasing voice called out, “You might burn off the rest of your brain cells.”

“Ha ha very funny Hunk” He pouted playfully at his best friend’, “Don’t you have anything better to do than make fun of me?”

The older godling guffawed loudly as he approached; a large smile on his face. Lance fought back the need to avert his eyes guiltily as Hunk’s analytical hazel eyes seemed to scan over him. A sense of tension seemed to descend upon them as the Earth-blessed godling took in the status of his royal friend.

“What’s got you in such a bad mood?” He asked thoughtfully, “Shouldn’t you be happy? It’s the Keith’s birthday isn’t it?”

Lance fought back another flinch as he rubbed the back of his neck apprehensively; his blue eyes trailing off to search the horizon once more.

“Yeah it is, but, but I feel like something is going to happen.”

Hunk’s eyes narrowed as all bouts of teasing and relaxing left his face his well-known anxiety starting to take over,

“What kind of  _ feeling _ are we talking about here? The good-lovey-dovey-oh-my-Voltron-my-Chosen-is-getting-older-kind or the horrible world-is-going-to-shit-and-we-don’t-have-nearly-enough-umbrellas-kind?”

The Water-blessed godling stared at his friend blankly before throwing his hands up into the air with a frustrated shout,

“That’s the problem, I have no clue!”

Lance sighed and paced around their forest encampment; this entire thing was just frustrating. He was about to release a torrential downpour just to get rid of his feelings when he felt Hunk’s hand grab onto his forearm. He turned to face his friend and he immediately noticed the tenseness that resided in the older godling’s frame.

“Have you talked to your dad about it? Or to Allura?” He asked nervously.

Lance frowned and stopped moving around,

“No, but do you think that I should?” 

Hunk shrugged his shoulders vaguely,

“If it’s bothering you this much, I think you should. Or at least tell someone, because it could be one of  _ those things _ , you know? One of the things that the older Alteans are always whispering about, but refuse to tell us because we’re ‘too young’?” 

Lance pursed his lips,

“You, you might be right…”

“Of course I’m right,” Hunk nodded his head a little too enthusiastically, “Well, maybe not ‘of course’. That implies that I’m  _ always _ right, which I’m not because that would be ridiculous. Nobody is perfect after all, we all make mistakes. I just happen to know what’s right  _ most of the time _ . I mean I wouldn’t be a good friend otherwise -- I’m here to make sure you don’t make stupid decisions. Not that you do that a lot, but when you do they’re almost  _ always _ bad…”

“Hunk,” Lance sighed.

“And even then you’re not as bad as  _ Keith _ is going to be. I mean, he’s only like  _ five  _ and he still gets into more trouble than an average godling would at his age. I mean do remember the time that he climbed up a tree and refused to come down? And there was also the time that Keith broke into Blaytz’s tent and stole one of his knives. And then there was  _ also  _ the time that Keith broke into  _ Allura’s _ tent and drew  _ all over her maps and such _ \-- I have never seen her so mad in my life! Even I was terrified! I...”

“Hunk,” Lance repeated as he pinched the bridge of his nose, “You’re rambling.”

“Am I?” Hunk paused in his rant and blinked at the slightly shorter godling owlishly, “Huh, I hadn’t even noticed…”

“Anyways, how am I meant to tell anyone  _ anything _ if I can’t even find them. I mean, even  _ Coran _ seems to be missing…” Lance’s voice trailed off.

Whatever was bothering his father and the rest of the clan for the past couple days was enough to ensure that the Altean King remained removed from the rest of the clan. Lance didn’t know what it was, but even that behaviour made him uneasy. His fingers were twitching restlessly at his side as he broadened his senses in an attempt to locate his father; or even Coran or one of the other members of the Council. 

However, as he scanned the clearing he found it strangely devoid of the older Alteans; it was as if the only ones left in the village were the godlings…even the godlings who were too young to be left alone were without their parental figures. 

“Hunk,” He whispered tensely, “When was the last time you saw Coran or your parents?”

The hazel eyed godling shifted warily as he took in the odd silence of the camp,

“Sometime this morning; a little after the sun rose I believe…”

Lance tilted his head worriedly and bit at his bottom lip,

“I can’t sense the Council or my father; Allura and Coran are even out of reach. It’s as if they completely disappeared.”

Hunk frowned at him in disbelief before closing his eyes. The heir knew that the older was scanning the encampment for anything that he may have overlooked in his anxiousness. After a few moments, his eyes opened slowly; confusion and hurt shining in his orbs. 

“I’m going to look around,” He answered tensely, “They have to be around there somewhere; it’s not like they can disappear.”

“But…”

“No Lance,” Hunk cut him off, suddenly completely stern, “You need to start making your way to Keith.”

The warmth that sprouted in his chest seemed to flicker at the mere reminder of his existence. Lance clenched a fist over his heart took a deep breath.

“You’re right, but I just can’t leave -- you might need me here…”

Hunk froze in his footsteps,

“You said earlier that something big is coming and I trust you on that. If it is coming today, then you need to be able to protect Keith at any cost. I’ll figure out what is going on here, you need to focus on him Lance.”

Lance clenched his jaw so hard that he thought his teeth were going to crack; he didn’t like the idea of splitting up at all, but it was the only thing they could do right now. He nodded his head tensely before turning his back on his best friend. The brunet gathered his latent magic inside him and allowed it overflow; the waves of water quickly enveloping his body. 

The calming waves left behind newly formed scales on his arms, face and legs as white feathery wings sprouted from his back and brushed the ground. Lance looked behind himself one more time to watch Hunk’s retreating back before he flapped his large wings and took to the sky. He preferred his water form more than anything else, but even he knew that the sky was faster; even if it left him out of his element. 

He focused on letting his wings rip through the air as he shot above the trees; it seemed that with every flap of his wings, the lower the sun would sink in the sky. It was amazing how quickly the time would pass when he was travelling; it was as if it was dawn just moments ago. He really hated how far Keith’s village was from the clearing; it made visiting him difficult. And considering the dilemma he has currently found himself in, he really wished that there was some short cut that he could take. 

He was about to fly into the barren icy landscape of the tundra when a familiar aura reached his senses causing him to frown. 

_ It couldn’t be... _

Lance immediately glanced down and noticed a figure with long blonde hair working their way through the woods. Judging by the magic signature alone it could only be Nyma, but that didn’t make any sense. Without a moment’s hesitation, Lance dove from the sky and shot like a rocket towards the ground. Before he was a hair away from the snow, he leveled himself out and let his feet plant firmly on the snow covered ground.

“Nyma,” Lance called out to her causing her to freeze in her movements, “Are you alright?”

The blonde was silent for a moment before she turned to face him,

“Oh, Lance! What are you doing out here?”

The brunet’s eyes narrowed cautiously; something about this didn’t feel right. It wasn’t like Nyma to completely avoid a direct question like that. Lance was about to ask her another question when he picked up something else in her aura.

Something  _ bitter _ .

Something  _ Dark _ .

“Nyma,” Lance swallowed thickly as his fingers twitched by his side ready to call upon his magic, “What did you do?”

The godling’s eyes shone mischievously as her own magic started to travel up her arms,

“I’ve done a lot of things recently, but I have to say that the one I am most proud of is happening as we speak.”

Lance’s instincts were screaming at him to attack, but he was quick to force them back. He had to be strategic about this; there was way more to this than Nyma was telling at the moment. He moved to take a step forward, but she immediately tossed up her hand in warning; her Poison Magic dancing along her finger tips.

“You should be careful your  _ highness _ , you wouldn’t want to leave itty bitty Keith to die on his own, do you?”

The Water-blessed godling felt anger rise in his chest; a growl escaping his throat,

“Don’t you dare threaten...”

Before he was even able to finish the sentence, Nyma had started laughing; her dulcet tones echoing throughout the bitter air. Lance gathered his power within him prepared to fight her only to freeze in his tracks once more. Nyma tilted her head to the side and stared at him as if he was nothing more than the dirt that was stuck to her shoes. 

“I don’t have to threaten him,” Nyma smirked, “For it has already been written.”

Lance frowned in confusion,

“What are you talking about?”

Nyma abruptly stopped laughing and raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him,

“I can’t tell if you’re acting stupid or if you’re truly so  _ thick _ that you don’t even know the future that has been laid out for you and that abomination.”

With a roar that Lance didn’t even know he could make, he instinctively swung his arms forward causing shards of ice to erupt from the ground like knives towards his once friend and family member. It surprised Nyma enough that she cursed and had to jump out of the way to avoid being skewered. 

“You have a bit of a trigger don’t you Lancey-Lance~”

“Shut. Up.” Lance hissed dangerously as he readied another attack.

“Come now Lance,” Nyma pouted tauntingly as she tossed her hair over her shoulder, “Good Ol’ King Alfor taught us that we shouldn’t ignore prophecy, so perhaps you should give  _ yours _ a listen… _ At the six year mark the Alteans will be Betrayed by one of their own, _ see Lancey, unfortunately that role belongs to me.”

“No, Nyma…” Lance ground out.

“It’s not done yet!” Nyma cut him off in annoyance, “ _ and the Dark One shall ascend the throne. _ ”

It felt as if every corner of his core had dried up; there was only one ‘Dark One’ in this world...

“ _ A snow covered village will be the stage, to be consumed by the Monster’s rage. _ One guess as to which icy village it’s talking about  _ Prince _ Lance.”

“No…” Lance glanced down at the blue and red marking that laced up his left arm, “Keith…”

He was quickly removed from that train of thought as Nyma spoke the last words and inevitably sealed all their fates… 

“ _ With Mother and Father fated to fall, the Fiery Knight to be alone at the end of it all. _ ”

Lance’s airways seemed to clog as realization started to set in. 

All the sad and longing looks that Krolia has had as the years went on... 

The silent worrying of his own father as the date drew nearer... 

As much as Allura, Hunk and the other members of their clan loved to tease him about his obliviousness he was far from stupid. 

He’s known from the beginning that Keith was special, but all of  _ this _ …

_ This  _ was confirming it.

If the six year mark was today…

It definitely wasn’t a coincidence that today Keith was turning six years old. 

Newfound rage burned inside him as he glared hatefully at his old friend; the godling who was christened in the exact year as himself.

“Nyma,” Lance hissed as water sprung to his hands, “How could you...h-he’s my Chosen…and we…we’re your family!”

Dark laughter escaped her lips,

“And that, Lance, is why it’s called betrayal.”

Lance readied an attack, but was cut off when Nyma spoke over him:

“But now that you know the truth, I can’t allow you to leave here alive; I can’t have you running off to warn  _ the Alliance _ now can I?”

VLDVLDVLDVLD

Krolia watched her son as the small raven sat in front of the panoramic window; his warm breath fogging the chilly glass. She noted that the sun was sinking lower and lower; it had well passed supper time and Lance had yet to make an appearance. Keith had refused to touch his plate until Lance had arrived. 

And of course, with his genetically given stubbornness, it was obvious that no matter how much Thomas or herself tried, they would not be able to get Keith to have one bite of his dinner. The Galra frowned, if that brown haired airhead ever did show up she was going to kick his ass for making her baby boy sad.

Even if they were ‘soulmates’.

She was pulled out of her borderline murderous thoughts by muscular arms wrapping around her shoulders. She placed one of her hands on Thomas’ right forearm and rubbed it soothingly. Krolia smiled softly as he pressed his lips to her temple. He slowly released her and wandered over to the seat across from her and sat down. 

He set his elbows on the table and laid his head in his hand; Krolia gulped, she knew that look. It meant that he wanted to talk, and said topic might very well result in a very brutal verbal smack-down from her husband. 

He truly was the gentlest man alive, but put him in a debate and he will slay anyone within seconds.

“‘lia,” He frowned, “Lance has never been late, early yes, but never late; and I can’t believe I’m saying this but, I’m worried.”

The dark haired woman tensed slightly,

“He probably got held up is all; he is a teenager.”

Thomas was contemplative for a moment; his deep blue eyes shining with curiosity and mischief. He tapped his fingers against the hardwood finish of the table thoughtfully before looking his wife in the eyes. Okay, now she knew that her husband was up to something. 

Thomas stretched his hand across the table and placed his large hand on top of her own. He rubbed his fingers along her knuckles and looked at her imploringly.

“I know,” He smiled sadly, “I know everything.”

Krolia’s heart stopped,

“Y-You what?”

“I knew something was different about you ‘lia; you seemed so otherworldly. I thought it was my imagination until Keith was born.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but he squeezed her hand soothingly,

“No, let me finish. He had the same otherworldliness as you did and then when  _ Lance _ came into our lives…”

Krolia closed her eyes tightly to fight against the burn that started to take residence in them; she sighed self-deprecatingly,

“I-I guess that would kind of send up some red flags wouldn’t it?”

He laughed somewhat jovially,

“C’mon you wouldn’t think I’d find it strange that he’s so emotionally invested in my six year old; plus we’ve known him for almost three years, and he hasn’t changed in the slightest...so, well, I talked to Hana…”

Krolia pulled her hand away from Thomas’ and buried her face in her hands. The very thing she didn’t want to happen had happened. She laughed brokenly before raising her head to look at her perfect half. Thomas had tears in his eyes, but he was still smiling at her. 

That’s when she knew that he knew about the prophecy as well.

“Thom,” She whispered, “When the time comes, I need you and Keith to run away from here as fast as you can; do you understand me?”

He opened his mouth to respond only to be cut off by their son’s enthusiastic shouts,

“Lance is here, I knew he would come!” 

Neither of them had the chance to blink before Keith had hopped off his seat by the window sill and threw open the front door. Cold air was carried into their warm house by the wind along with a pungent odour; one that she unfortunately recognised.

The smell of death reached her nose and caused her to immediately shoot out of her seat. She heard Thomas doing the same, but she was focused solely on the scent that had filtered into their house. When she reached the doorway, she saw Lance kneeling in the snow; his body almost contorted into an unshapely ball, her son still stumbling in the snow towards him.

She frowned in confusion until she noticed it…

The smell was coming from Lance.

With a burst of speed that left the door nearly flying off its hinges, she instantly caught up with Keith’s little legs. Krolia overtook her son and acted as a barrier; causing the small raven to run directly into her arms. Keith froze for a moment, confused as to what had just happened, before he started to kick at her repeatedly for halting his mad dash for the Altean prince.

“Go get the one of the Balmerans,” She ordered tensely as she handed the fidgeting and still screaming Keith to her husband who had just caught up to the both of them, “And make sure she hurries.”

Something in her eyes made Thomas pale and he immediately listened to her; he started towards the village, Keith kicking and screaming for Lance the entire way. Krolia returned her attention to the fallen Altean and fell to her knees beside him; prepared to turn him onto his back to get a better look at his injuries. She reached out to touch his quaking shoulder only to have Lance flinch away from him with a pained hiss.

“Don’t touch me,” He whispered sternly, “The poison will spread to you too.”

Krolia’s eyebrows furrowed in concern,

“Poison?”

Lance looked up at him; his normally bright, ocean blue eyes were dim and surrounded by dark circles. His normally golden tanned skin was as pale as the snow that lay around them. She knew that if she didn’t do something soon, the Altean wouldn’t survive long enough for the Balmeras to save him. 

She could not let Lance die.

Not only did she owe Alfor and the boy himself for everything that they’ve done, but Keith would be broken for the rest of his life.

A part of his soul torn from him. 

She dug into one of the many pockets attached to her belt and pulled out a salve and a pair of gloves. It wouldn’t be enough to  _ cure _ Lance, but it would be more than enough to stop the poison from spreading to his heart long enough for the Balmeras to get there. She kept a close eye on the blue and red markings on Lance’s arm and noticed that it was getting fainter.

She had to hurry.

“Who did this to you?” She demanded as she snapped the gloves into place and opened the lid of the salve.

Lance winced,

“Nyma…Nyma betrayed the clan; the prophecy, the prophecy is coming true.”

Krolia frowned; she wasn’t even aware that he knew of the prophecy,

“Where’s your father?”

The brunet’s fists clenched tightly as she started to apply the salve, but the dark haired Galra had a feeling that it wasn’t because of the pain. Lance stared at her evenly through his heavy lidded eyes; worry and fear evident in his steely gaze. 

“My father, Coran, Allura, the Council Members...they’re gone...it’s like they have never existed.”

Zarkon and Haggar…

It just had to be.

She was about to ask the young heir more questions when a ferocious roar sounded in the direction of the village followed immediately by an explosion. Krolia looked toward the village to see what the hell was going on only to see a large demon that had to be close to fifty feet tall standing in the middle of the place that she once called home.

“Don’t…Don’t go.”

She turned and found herself looking into desperate blue eyes,

“Keith needs you  _ and _ Thomas, if you go both of you will die and Keith will be left alone.”

“I…” 

Krolia sighed and pressed her hand on his brown hair soothingly; her fingers threading through his sweaty fringe, “I have to protect as much people as I can; my family is fighting, the Alliance, so I have to help them protect those who cannot protect themselves.”

“But…”

“Plus, both Thomas  _ and _ Keith had to go into the village to get the Balmeras; they’re going to be right in the middle of that…”

“If you give me a tick, I can  _ help _ …”

Krolia shushed him calmingly, 

“Keith will always have you Lance, son of Alfor, and with that knowledge I know I can do my duty to my clan without any fear.”

Before he could argue with her any further she dashed towards the smoldering inferno that used to be her town. She had left Lance solely for the fact that the salve was starting to take effect and that she could sense the other members of his clan coming from the distance.

But for now she had a job to do…

Even if it hurt…

Even if it meant that Keith would have to watch both his mother and his father fall.


	3. Thirteen Years

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thirteen Years have passed.  
> Zarkon is slowly taking over the world with Haggar at his side, but he learns that things might not be as smooth sailing as he thought it would be.  
> Also, Keith has some angst...or a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya Minna~
> 
> Here's another update! This is actually half of a much bigger chapter that I was going to post, so I'm sorry for the abrupt ending.  
> And unfortunately, not a lot of interesting things happen in this chapter -- it is a lot of setting in the scene, but there will be a little more next chapter.  
> Sorry for all OOC-ness! I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Have a great Easter!

**** Lightning flashed across the obsidian sky with a deep rolling thunder hastily followed it; rain was falling heavily upon the once living forest. It had been ages since a living thing had tried to live there. Animals no longer dwelled in the surrounding area and the trees had long since died. 

Sitting in the center of the clearing was a man with hair as dark as the sky above him and eyes as red as the blood of the innocent people he spilt. The last thirteen years had been nothing short of a massacre in the realm of Demons, and he had to say that it had been the best thirteen years of his life.

After Haggar ensured that the Slayers and the Alliance were cut down at the knees, he continued to conquer cities and villages left and right allowing the Demons to have free reign amongst the world once more; he had never experienced something more euphoric. Not only had the sacred city of Altea been destroyed, but Mamora, Olkarion, and many other places were eradicated soon after. 

A frown tugged heavily on his lips.

Of course, the godlings somehow managed to escape the massacre with their lives mostly intact.

It was a mistake that he would have to rectify sooner rather than later.

He glanced up at the crying sky and tried to suppress his annoyance; there was no use in worrying about something that wouldn’t be a threat. The fact of the matter was, without a Demon Slayer he and Haggar could not be defeated; the world would finally be theirs.  

“Lord Zarkon.”

The dark haired demon rolled his eyes before turning towards the source of the call lazily. Walking towards him, with purpose in every step he took, was none other than Sendak; his right hand and leader of his main troops. 

“What is it Sendak?” He closed his eyes, “There had better be a good reason why you’re interrupting me when I clearly said that I wanted to be left alone.”

The tall, broad-shouldered man bowed to him reverently,

“I apologize for the interruption Lord Zarkon, but I thought that the intel I received was of utmost importance.”

Zarkon scowled in thinly veiled annoyance,

“And what would that be?”

A few moments of silence passed causing a scowl to appear on Zarkon’s slowly purpling face. He angrily opened his eyes, prepared to reprimand Sendak for wasting his time when he saw the look of utter disbelief, anger and  _ fear _ on his typically stoic face. Zarkon felt his quintessence swirl within him as an unfamiliar anxiety started to rear its ugly head.

“Sendak,” He spat furiously, “Tell me what you have found or you shall feel the full wrath of my strength.”

Sendak inclined his head reverently,

“It’s just not easy to share, your lordship.”

The dark haired demon clenched his fists at his sides,

“Did Alfor and his blasted offspring return?” 

If possible, Sendak paled even further; shaking his head adamantly back and forth,

“No, but, I do regret to inform you that a Demon Slayer still lives.”

Whatever he had been expecting hear, he had to firmly say that  _ that _ wasn’t even close to the top of his list. 

How could that even be possible? 

He had used any means necessary to kill the bastard of a Demon Slayer (even kicked his rotting corpse), but he also severed the ties between the Alliance and the Alteans.

“Do you somehow find mentioning something as foolish as this amusing?” He growled, “Do you wish to incite my anger?”

“Of course not my lord!” Sendak clenched his prosthetic limb at his side, “But I have a reason to believe my intel; Nyma used to have deep bonds with the Alteans before she betrayed them. If anyone would know about this, she would Lord Zarkon.”

Zarkon clenched his teeth tightly,

“Is this  _ Nyma _ here, Sendak? If so, I demand that I speak with her immediately.”

“ _ Vrepit sa _ , I’ll bring her to you straight away.”

Without another word, the commander turned on his heel and made his way to the boundaries of the forest. Zarkon watched his retreating back; anger and loathing rolling off of him in waves. Throwing caution to the wind, the self-proclaimed King of Demons whipped his arm out towards a nearby husk of a tree, sending a wave of dark energy rocketing towards it. 

In the blink of an eye, the decrepit bark that was once remained on the dead life form disappeared into oblivion; it was as if the tree had never existed. Before he could lose his temper even further, he heard Sendak returning from the edge of the forest; a new set of footsteps accompanying him. 

Zarkon couldn’t help but feel pleased despite the situation, after all, Nyma had come so far in the past fourteen years. Her poison abilities had become next to unbeatable and her blackened soul, if possible, has even started to become as black as Zarkon’s own. 

“Nyma,” He addressed the blonde haired godling, “Is the information you brought to Sendak true? There is absolutely no margin for error; we cannot afford to make mistakes.”

The poison godling’s violet eyes sharpened,

“I wouldn’t come to you unless I knew what I heard was in fact true; I would never wish to anger you Lord Zarkon.”

The dark haired demon pursed his lips,

“Then what is the news you have brought me?”

Nyma stared at the ground stoically for a moment before she spoke,

“Before I tell you anything my lord, I have a very important question that I have to ask you.”

Zarkon growled impatiently,

“And what would that be godling?”

The blonde haired demon stayed resolutely silent once again incurring the King of Demon’s boiling wrath. Just as he was about to punish the godling for her insolence, Nyma had opened her mouth to speak.

“Lord Zarkon,” She stated seriously, “Were you aware that Thomas and Krolia Kogane had a son?”

The dark haired demon froze,

“What are you talking about?”

Nyma sighed and mindlessly fiddled with the ends of her hair,

“The Koganes had a young son who managed to survive the attack on Olkarion that night. In fact, he along with a handful of hunters were the only survivors of the destruction.”

Zarkon’s eyes narrowed,

“Simply because this bastard of a child survived doesn’t mean that he had inherited his father’s gifts.”

“That may be true, but I know for a fact that this boy poses a great danger to your plans.” Nyma stated confidently.

“What about this irrelevant child could possibly anger me?” He demanded haughtily. 

The blonde haired demon’s violet eyes burned deeply into his blood red,

“Not only  _ did _ Thomas’ son inherit the powers of the Demon Slayer line, but he is also the mate of the Altean Second-in-line and Master of Water, Lance.”

**_Two Clans must unite as One_ ** **_  
_ ** **_Joining the power of Ice and Sun_ **

How could he be such a fool?! 

How could he miss something as important as a direct blood relation?! 

He felt the two demons shift fearfully near him, but he didn’t pay them any mind; he, after all, had a mess to clean up. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in an effort to rein in his fluctuating quintessence; the last thing he needed was to accidentally kill his foolish subordinates.

They haven’t lost their usefulness yet.

When he had felt his quintessence finally calm down, he opened his eyes and stared darkly at Sendak and Nyma in turn. It seemed that he would have to call in Haggar and her robeasts in order to remove the blemish that had arisen. He focused his attention on the man and glowered at him from underneath hooded eyelids. 

“Sendak,” He ordered, “Round up the rest of the soldiers; it looks as if we’ll be marching into battle sooner than expected.”

“ _ Vrepit Sa _ , Lord Zarkon,” He put a fist over his heart and bowed obediently, “Right away.”

As Sendak made his way towards their place of residence, Zarkon glanced over at the poison godling. He knew that Nyma could not read his mind, but sometimes he thought the brat knew more than she let on. He stared evenly at her in silence before finally addressing her, 

“Before I send you on your mission, I want to know if  _ Prince _ Lance is still protecting that bastard demon slayer.”

Nyma shook her head immediately,

“No Lord Zarkon, in fact, Lance has been absent from Gray’s life since the robeast destroyed the village of Marmora twelve years ago.”

The dark haired demon raised his eyebrow curiously,

“Now why would he do that? Isn’t it painful for a godling to be separated from his mate for such a long period of time?”

Nyma smirked, 

“Yes, but in this case Lance had no choice in the matter; he can’t really do much when his mate no longer remembers anything about this world.”

Zarkon’s eyes widened at the surprising information; all the anger he felt up until that moment started to dissipate. Maybe there was a chance that he could use the so-called demon slayer’s obliviousness to the supernatural world to further his plans. 

The corner of his lip twitched in amusement as a rough idea started to form in his head,

“Care to tell me how this outcome would be possible?”

“I’ll be more than happy to, afer you inform me of how I will be contributing to this mission.”

The red eyed demon smiled at the unyielding hatred Nyma had for her people; it had been something he deemed useful when he had seduced the poison godling to the side of darkness. He has never gone so far as to have Haggar pry into the godling’s mind to find out the reason for that hatred, but the answer would undoubtedly be amusing.

Zarkon smiled at her and pointed to the Northeast side of the forest where the grass slowly yielded to ice and snow.

“You’re duty is simple young one,” He smirked darkly, “You are to lead the robeast that Haggar chooses to awaken to the residence of the demon slayer’s offspring and destroy him.”

Nyma folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow,

“What of the civilians that reside in the town?”

Zarkon scoffed,

“Collateral damage; you will do anything to ensure that that bastard is vanquished, is that clear?”

“ _ Vrepit Sa _ Lord Zarkon,” The blonde haired demon smiled slyly, “It’s as clear as ice.”

VLDVLDVLDVLD

He stared out of the wide, panoramic window; his chin resting on the palm of his hand as he watched the clouds move lethargically through the sky. He could hear the monotonous droning of his professor in the back of his mind; and as usual, he really, really couldn’t be bothered. Normally, he would at least  _ act _ like he was listening, but today he couldn’t find himself caring.

Half the time, he didn’t even know why he decided to start attending the Galaxy Garrison.

Part of him thought that he went because he didn’t want to disrespect the Shiroganes and everything that they had done for him, while another part of him thought that he went just to spite his older ‘brother’; after all, Shiro told him point-blank that he shouldn’t go away to pursue his University education.

Not that he even  _ wanted _ to go to university to begin with.

Keith sighed loudly and closed his eyes; he really didn’t understand his family. 

Not only had Yoshi and Hana disappeared out of their lives five years ago without a goodbye, Shiro had essentially severed him out of his life, leaving him to fend for himself the last three years. 

He lowered his hand from his head and formed it into a tight fist on his desk. He wouldn’t say it out loud or anything, but his heart  _ hurt  _ every time he thought about his brother. The raven knew that a lot of the reason why Shiro disappeared all those years ago.

Shiro had every right to hate him.

Sure, he can’t take the blame for Yoshi and Hana taking him in…

But he could take the blame for Shiro losing his arm.

He didn’t remember much about that night.

He didn’t remember a lot of anything that happened in his childhood if he was honest. His mind was like a sieve; important events never seemed to stick in his brain. Instead, they would simply slip right through. 

Sometimes he was able to remember what his real parents sounded like, but he could never truly  _ remember _ them. The year that Shiro lost his arm, The Shiroganes had told him that he was ready to hear the truth. 

Whatever that meant. 

He wished that he could remember his birth parents; neither Yoshi or Hana really told him what happened to them. 

In fact, the first memory that he can recall was Yoshi and Hana finding him in some rubble; it was hazy and he wasn’t even sure if it actually happened. All he had was questions and no one was around to answer him. The one time Keith had voiced his questions was three years ago when he and Shiro had that argument. 

He was asking his older brother if he remembered another boy with brown hair and eyes as blue as the ocean; it had all escalated from there and ended with the slamming of a door and Shiro’s retreating back.

“Keith? Helloooo, Earth to Keith!”

The raven jumped in his seat and out of his swirling thoughts. His deep indigo eyes immediately landed on a girl with short auburn hair and caramel brown eyes. She was straddling the seat of the desk in front of him and slouched over the back rest; her glasses sliding eloquently down her nose as she continued to stare him down curiously. 

“Sorry Pidge,” He chuckled weakly, “Was a little lost in thought.”

Pidge Gunderson rolled her eyes dramatically and fixed her glasses,

“You don’t need to apologize to me, but you have to know that you owe me a slice of pizza now that you made me stay in class later than I ever wanted to.” 

The raven rubbed the back of his neck,

“Whatever you say Pidge…whatever you say.”

He got up from his desk and grabbed the backpack he had draped over his seat. He put it on his shoulder and headed towards the doorway, Pidge’s quick footsteps following behind him. The pair walked in silence as they walked down the empty halls of the Galaxy Garrison; the sound of their feet bouncing off the quiet walls. However, seeing how Pidge Gunderson was walking beside him, he had to know that the silence wouldn’t last very long. 

“So,” She began; a curious lilt to her voice, “What were you so deep in thought about? The only thing on your mind  _ should have  _ been the not-so-surprise birthday bash that the rest of our ‘friends’ are throwing you tonight.”

Keith rolled his eyes,

“Yeah, I’m not going.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to, because that would mean  _ I  _ have to go,” She clicked her tongue.

Keith pouted and looked away from her,

“Good to know how you really feel Gunderson.”

“I’ve known you for a while now” She continued as if he hadn’t said anything, “so I also know that that pinched face you had earlier had something to do with Shiro.”

He scowled darkly and continued to stare ahead of himself; he really hated how perceptive she could be. He could feel her eyes burning holes into the side of his head, but he could care less about it. 

Pidge could be intimidating, but not that intimidating. 

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes and shrugged his shoulders vaguely.

“It doesn’t matter what I was thinking about; it wasn’t that important.”

She folded her arms across her chest,

“Fine, if you want to play hard ball, I can play hard ball.”

Keith smirked teasingly at her statement,

“No you can’t, there’s a reason why your best friends are computers.”

It was Pidge’s turn to pout for a few moments before a sly smile once again pulled across her face. Before Keith could react, Pidge cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted at the top of her lungs,

“Oi Rolo!”

“Pidge!” He hissed, “Don’t. You. Dare.”

“Oi Gunderson,” Rolo called back’ flicking his silver hair out of his eyes, “You bringing Kogane to his party tonight?!”

“Pidge,” Keith warned again, only to be cut off.

“Of course I am! See you there!”

The taller boy waved in response and continued walking with the rest of his group of friends. If possible, Keith’s scowl deepened and his shoulders slumped even more.

“Was that really necessary?!” He demanded as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“I told you Keithy,” She shrugged with a smirk, “I can play hard ball.”

Keith tightened the grip he had on his biceps and forced himself to continue walking; Pidge still following closely behind.

“You know I hate my birthday Pidge…”

The brunette raised an unimpressed eyebrow,

“Yeah, you may have mentioned it, but you never told me  _ why _ you hated it.”

And there lies the center of another of him many problems.

He didn’t know why he hated his birthday.

He just did. 

He would honestly wake up in the morning with a dark whirling pit settling into his stomach. 

He had a feeling that it had something to do with the recurring nightmares (that he couldn’t quite remember) that happened the night before his birthday, without fail, every single year. What used to confuse him even more was that Shiro, even if he tried to hide it, would be more depressed than usual on his birthday and the Shiroganes would often look at him with pity in their eyes.

Keith growled under his breath in annoyance and tried to purposefully lose his derailing train of thought. He glanced over at the brunette walking by his side and frowned. Ever since he had known her, she had tried to pry into his life and figure out the ‘mysterious loner’ that was Keith Kogane. 

When they first met three years ago, she had insisted that he was a cryptid. And as he was a lover of cryptids, he had to ruin that dream for her.

But they were stuck with each other ever since.

“Keith,” She huffed; causing him to turn his attention to her once more, “Don’t ignore me; I’m sorry I asked, okay?”

He knew she wasn’t actually sorry.

“If I go to this stupid party,” He closed his eyes in defeat, “Will you promise not to drag me to another party ever again?” 

As if by magic, a smirk instantaneously spread across her face. Before he could stop her, her hand latched onto his forearm (with a surprisingly tight grip) and started to drag him out of the main building of the university. 

“Roger that! It’s not like I  _ want  _ to go to this party either, but if I have to at least I get to suffer with you.”

He hung his head in silent agony; what did he just get himself into? 

Suddenly, a chill travelled down his spine forcing him to stop walking, causing Pidge to nearly trip over her own feet and face-plant onto the pavement. 

“Keith!” She growled impatiently, “What the hell was that for?!”

“I…”

He didn’t know how to explain it to her without sounding crazy; it felt like he was being watched. 

The strange thing was, he wasn’t as freaked out as he should be; in fact, the reason he stopped was for something else entirely. For as soon as the chill disappeared, it was replaced by a comforting heat blooming in the center of his chest. He subconsciously gripped the front of his shirt right over his heart and glanced around himself slowly.

“Keith?” He turned towards Pidge at the strange note of concern in her voice, “Are you alright?”

“I…” He gulped softly and slowly released his shirt, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

She looked as if she was going to try and push it further, but he quickly grabbed her sleeve and started to pull her towards the parking lot once more. She was oddly silent the entire way, but he simply chalked it up to the fact that she was either weird-ed out by him or simply thinking up ways to get him back for this.

If he’d had to take a guess, it’s probably the latter.


	4. The Seal Cracks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get some insight into where Shiro is and how he fits into all of this...  
> Keith finally sees what's been hidden from him in so long...  
> But it is not worth the sacrifice that was made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Again Minna~
> 
> Here's the second half of that chapter! I know, super fast update right?  
> Probably going to be the only one of its kind, just as a fair warning LOL  
> I hope you enjoy the chapter, even if it is still a little filler-ish, but there is some action here so that's always good!
> 
> And just as a side note...look at the tags before you freak out too much, y'all don't have to worry I PROMISE! <3
> 
> Once again, I apologise for all OOC-ness!
> 
> Enjoy!

A lone figure sat in a large room with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling; paintings and murals adorned the walls of the room and reflected a tantalising tale of adventure, heroism, sacrifice, and victory. A large table rested before the figure with enough seats to house eight more people. The surface wooden, yet bare of anything but too golden candlesticks resting at the heart of it.

He stared at the empty chairs and clenched his hand into a loose fist as he waited for the others to arrive. It was rare for him to be the first to arrive, so chances are the others would be making their presence known soon enough. He straightened in his chair when he heard the large double doors to the chamber open. 

As soon as the doors slammed against their respective walls, sound finally reached his ears. Well, if he was going to state it correctly, he meant the complete lack of sound. He could hear the footsteps of his friends as they got closer and closer to the council chambers, but for the first time in a long time no voices accompanied their footsteps.

No voices to differentiate each footstep from another’s. 

But in all honesty, he wasn’t surprised. 

Today was the day after all.

Today was the anniversary of when their homes were destroyed and their parents or guardians were slaughtered at the hands of a robeast. 

Today was the anniversary of when their only hope for winning against Zarkon and the Galra was annihilated.

Today was the anniversary of when everything as they knew it, would no longer be the same. 

There were many thoughts and feelings that accompanied today’s date; each and every thought being different from the other, but the one thing that remained the same was the sense of hopelessness and loss that seemed to surface without fail. 

He tried to fight back his frown as the remainder of his family walked into the chambers; a thick cloud of sadness surrounding them as they took their seats. It was days like today where the vacant chairs in the room seemed the most noticeable; it was days like today where they felt the emptiness of their absence. 

The chair that rested at the head of the table had been vacant for the past thirteen years, and if all went to plan, it would never need to be filled. 

Even if looking at it brought a sharp pain to his chest. 

“Shiro,” He turned towards the slightly amused voice, “I didn’t expect you to be here waiting for us, it’s more often than not the other way around.”

The raven haired man felt heat crawl up his cheeks as he looked incredulously at the teasing voice,

“I’m only ever late because of you Holt, and don’t try and say otherwise.”

At his embarrassed outburst, the tense atmosphere that engulfed the chambers dissipated slightly; leave it to Matthew Holt to make fun of him just so they could be mentally prepared for this particular meeting. 

He glanced around the room and noticed that they had seemed more relaxed than they had when they had initially arrived. 

“Eh,” He smirked, “I still say you get a gold star for doing it; at the rate you’re going, you’re going to need a new achievement chart.”

A soft laugh reached his ears, as he felt his ears start to burn along with his cheeks,

“Oh son, you’re just jealous because your achievement chart is empty.”

“Dad!”

Shiro smiled softly at the father/son duo as they took their seats at the table. Matt pouting over exaggeratedly as his father, Samuel Holt, patted his back in an almost mocking sympathy. Seeing these two act that way truly warmed his heart despite all that has happened in the past.  

“So Shiro, how long have you been waiting?” Sam turned towards the younger man, “Not too long I hope?”

Before he could even attempt to answer, someone cleared their throat. Shiro turned his attention to the others who had approached the table and had now taken their seats. His grey eyes immediately narrowed on the burly man who had announced his presence. A scowl firmly painted on his somewhat angular, yet beefy, face as he glared at Shiro with his one working eye.

“Now, if the three of you are finished talking about pointless things, perhaps we can move on with this meeting.”

Shiro couldn’t help but sigh under his breath as the once lighthearted atmosphere descended upon them was destroyed. He respected the Alliance, he respected Mitchell Iverson (at least to a degree) and he knew that today was a tough day for everyone, but did he really have destroy the small reprieve that the Holts had managed to create?

“Of course,” Sam inclined his head to the Senior Alliance member at the table, “Feel free to proceed, Commander Iverson.”

Shiro noticed as Matt slumped further in his chair and scowled at the Commander; the scar on his cheek standing in stark contrast to his skin tone as he tried to stave off his annoyance. Shiro reached underneath the table and poked Matt’s forearm with his prosthetic causing the younger male to look at him out of the corner of his eye and relax slightly as he poked him back.

“As all of you know,” Iverson stated seriously; drawing Shiro’s attention to the matter at hand, “Today marks thirteen years since Zarkon and his witch sent that Monster into Olkarion and destroyed our homes.

“About eleven years ago, the Blades gave us another prophecy telling us of the intentions of Zarkon after years of supposed silence; we need to create a plan of action.”

Tension descended on the table as Iverson’s words started to sink in.

“But Commander Iverson,” Lieutenant Montgomery glanced up at the dark haired man sadly, “If Zarkon doesn’t know He’s alive and Keith Kogane doesn’t know this world exists, couldn’t the prophecy be completely voided?”

Silence descended amongst the people present at the meeting as  _ his  _ name was uttered for the first time in who knows how long. 

Keith was always a taboo when it came to these meetings and it was usually because of one or two reasons. The first being the sadness his absence brings everyone in the Alliance due to the reminder of what they lost that day and the second being the ensuing guilt that plagues them all for what they failed to protect in the destruction of their home.

If there was something that Shiro wished that he could change, it would be to redo the way in which he and his adoptive younger brother had parted those three years ago.

Even now, he regretted everything he said to Keith and wished that he could somehow apologize to him, but it wasn’t possible. The best way to keep his impulsive brother safe from Zarkon and his plans was to keep the raven separated from the Alliance.

And separate from triggering his own memories and breaking the seal that bound his quintessence.

“There’s always that chance,” Iverson conceded bluntly, “But Zarkon also has many sources, one of which being Nyma the Betrayer who knew all about the workings of the Alteans and the origin of Bonds and Imprinting. We have to be ready for anything.”

Shiro noticed as people in the room shifted restlessly; he along with everyone else knew that this was coming. 

Everyone knew that the War was drawing closer and closer as the years went by, but it was obvious that no one wanted to believe it was true. Just as he thought the meeting was going to end in a stalemate on the matter (once again), Ryner raised her palm. His eyebrow raised curiously as he eyed the wise woman; it wasn’t often that Ryner made her thoughts known in council. 

Iverson nodded his head towards her,

“What do you and the surviving Olkari have to say on the matter Ryner?”

She tapped her chin thoughtfully before turning her intelligent hazel eyes on Iverson,

“What if we were to ask for outside assistance? It is clear to not only me and the Olkari, but also to many of the other Hunters in the Alliance that we do not stand a chance against Zarkon on our own.”

Matt frowned at Ryner contemplatively,

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about the prophecy given by the Blades three years before the destruction of our home, young Holt.” Ryner inclined her head sagely, “The Prophecy of Ice and Sun.”

From across the table, Iverson’s eyes hardened into a stern glare,

“You can’t honestly be thinking of doing  _ that  _ are you?”

Sam held up his hand to silence the man before he could go on a tirade; which made Iverson scowl  _ even more _ . Despite that, Iverson took a deep calming breath before addressing the woman once more; with a little more politeness in his tone. 

“Do you know what you’re suggesting?” He muttered, “How do we know that we can trust them after all the bad blood between us?”

“The Commander is right,” Lieutenant Montgomery spoke up once more in support of her commanding officer, “We don’t even know where we could find them if we did want their help.”

“But Commander Iverson,” Ryner uttered softly, “This could be actually what we need in order to defeat Zarkon for good.”

“Ryner,” Iverson glared at the older female, “You can’t be serious about this.”

Shiro found himself frowning once more; it was obvious where this was going, but he wasn’t sure if he liked it. At the same time, he knew that this was the only chance that they had.

He cleared his throat loudly causing all heads to turn towards him,

“When I left Keith, we had an argument, like all siblings do I guess, only this time it was different.”

Sam’s eyebrows furrowed,

“What does that have to do with our decision Shiro?”

He could feel Iverson’s eyes burning into the side of his head as he prepared himself to answer. 

“It matters,” He stated, “because although Keith doesn’t remember what happened in Olkarion nor Marmora, he is starting to remember Lance.”

“Lance,” Matt stared at him in disbelief, “As in  _ Lance _ , the Altean Prince Lance, son of Alfor,  _ that Lance _ ?”

Shiro inclined his head slightly; his platinum blond fringe hanging in his eyes and brushing across the scar on his nose,

“The very same; it wasn’t until that moment that I realized just how powerful their imprint actually is. Despite the fact that Krolia and my mother used a memory seal on Keith, he was still able to describe Lance without actually knowing who he was.”

Silence engulfed the chamber once more; he was definitely on a roll today. 

He could tell that Iverson was about to say something when the sound of running footsteps reached their ears. Simultaneously, all six heads turned towards the door to see a girl burst through the door; her chest heaving as she tried to gather her breath.

“Shay?” Matt called to the out of breath girl in surprise, “What are you doing down here?”

The girl’s big brown eyes stared up at them fearfully,

“You have to hurry! We need to gather the members of the Alliance immediately!”

“What’s going on?” Iverson demanded, “Has Rax picked up something on the Archive?”

Shay nodded her head quickly,

“I-It’s Myzax! He’s marching towards the Galaxy Garrison and he’s not stopping!”

It was as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. 

Not only was the Monster they believed to have been destroyed eleven years ago walking around, but it was heading towards the base of their main Intelligence network. 

Had Zarkon discovered that they were getting closer and closer to figuring out how to defeat him?

No. That didn’t make sense; Zarkon would have attacked them directly, not their Intelligence network (even if it was valuable). Then it suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks…he whipped towards Matt, fear evident in his grey eyes. 

Two names were simultaneously released into the air.

“Katie.”

“Keith.”

VLDVLDVLDVLDVLD

He was right.

He completed regretted letting Pidge drag him to this shit-fest.

Even if it was supposed to be  _ his  _ shit-fest.

Keith huffed under his breath and leaned his head on his arms with his red solo cup dangling loosely from his hand. He was never one for crowds to begin with, but this was just ridiculous; he honestly thought that he didn’t know half the people at this stupid thing. 

From where he was sitting, he could see Pidge talking to Rolo at the bar. Rolo seemed to be completely sloshed, but Pidge just seemed content enough to yak the poor guy’s ear off. If Keith was reading her lips correctly, she was asking him about Beezer; the robot that he created.

And she called him a buzz kill.

He rolled his eyes fondly and took a large swig out of his cider. 

Even if he hated the party, he had to admit that the alcohol was spot on. 

He laughed quietly to himself as he went to take another drink when he realized the he had none left. He frowned at the empty cup before getting to his feet (although slightly off-kilter at first) and made his way towards the bar to get himself a refill. 

He sat his cup on the bar and waved his hand at the bartender to let her know that he needed another drink. The shy girl nodded at him and held up her finger telling him that she’d be there in one minute. He nodded at her in acknowledgement and waited for her to be free. 

“Keith, you are honestly the most depressing birthday boy ever.”

Keith scowled and stared at Pidge as she and Rolo took the two seats to his right,

“Yeah, well you already knew this when you became my friend.”

The auburn girl snorted,

“That’s true…aren’t you getting another drink?”

The raven nodded his head and tilted it towards the bartender to show that he was waiting for her to finish with the other customers. 

“Oh c’mon Keith,” She pouted playfully, “You’re the birthday boy, you shouldn’t have to wait for your drink.”

He laughed loudly and was about to retort when he suddenly saw a shock of brown hair paired with piercing ocean blue eyes.

All words died at the tip of his tongue. 

Strangely enough, the spot on his chest seemed to heat up again like earlier; what the hell was going on with him lately? He could hear Pidge trying to grab his attention in the background, but he was solely focused on the blue eyed figure heading towards the exit. Without saying a word to his friend, he started to push his way through the crowd until he managed to burst out the front doors and into the paved parking lot.

When he got outside, he started looking for the stranger, but found that whoever it was seemed to have vanished into thin air. His chest was still burning slightly so he knew that he had to be around somewhere; he didn’t know how it was possible, he just  _ knew _ . 

“Keith!” Pidge shouted as she burst out of the bar, “You can’t just run off like that!”

The raven blinked at her in confusion,

“Why? It never seemed to bother you before.”

“Well,” She scowled, “It’s not very often that you get drunk; you never know what kind of stupid shit you could do. Don’t you remember the last time when you claimed that a cat on the street was your rival?”

He glared at her as he noticed Rolo laughing at him from behind her,

“I thought we agreed that we weren’t going to talk about that ever again. Besides, it’s not like I left for no reason.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and raised her brow expectantly,

“Oh yeah? And what was that?”

“Like I’m going to tell you,” He pouted (though he’d adamantly deny ever doing so), “All you’ll do is laugh and make fun of me for the rest of my life.” 

“Try us,” Rolo interrupted, “Was it a girl? Does our dear sweet Keith finally have his heart set on someone?”

Keith folded his arms across his chest and tried to glance away from the teasing silverette in order to hide his blush. This was why he didn’t like telling either of them anything; they just used said information to make his life miserable. 

He was pulled out of his eternal embarrassment by the sound of a ringtone. He glanced up in time to see Rolo answering his phone and walking away from him and Pidge. He smirked at the confusion that seemed to flit across Pidge’s face as the man started to retreat.

“What’s going on?” He teased, “Is there something going on that I don’t know about?”

What he expected was for her to start yelling at him or maybe even throwing something else back in his face, but that was not what he got. Instead her eyes widened at his statement causing him to narrow his eyes suspiciously. He opened his mouth to ask her what the hell her problem was when a loud, soul-wrenching roar echoed throughout the darkening sky. 

Keith’s heart started racing in his chest and he felt his hands get clammy; he didn’t know what that sound was, but it made something deep inside of him crack.

He felt… _ fear _ .

“Keith, Pidge,” Rolo ran back towards them; his face paler than it was only a few moments before, “We have to get out of here, now.”

The roar crackled through the air once more causing the hair to rise from the back of his neck,

“What, what was that?”

“Keith, did you hear him?” Pidge demanded as she grabbed onto his hand and tried to pull him away, “We have to get the fuck out of here!”

_ Language _ , Shiro’s voice admonished in his head.

He stared at her in complete confusion; he didn’t know what the hell she was talking about, but he did recognize the pure look of anguish on her face. What did she mean that they had to get out of there; where exactly are they going to go? 

But most importantly, why did two of the most courageous people he know seem so terrified that they were going to pass right out? 

Suddenly, the earth rumbled underneath his feet; his first instinct told him that it was an earthquake, but he was quickly proved wrong. As if time slowed to a near stop, Keith turned his head to see the most terrifying  _ thing  _ that he had ever encountered. 

Standing before him was nothing less than a monster; he stood at over fifty feet tall, with purple-mechanical-like flesh. One of the arms seemed to be intact, while the other seemed to be a strange gauntlet of some type that was only seen in video games. 

It seemed like something that would only exist in fantasy novels or anime; just how much alcohol did he drink?

“Pidge,” He muttered, “Please tell me I’m seeing things.”

He caught her grimace out of the corner of his eye,

“I wish I could, but I can’t. What we need to worry about right now is getting out of here. I’ll explain everything to you once we escape, but we have to survive first.”

The monster’s roar soaked the air again as entire houses were being destroyed in its wake. The arm that Pidge was holding went slack as what she said finally reached his mind. He could feel her trying to pull him, but it was as if his body couldn’t, no, wouldn’t move. He robotically turned his head away from the monster and faced his friend.

“What do you mean explain?” His voice cracked.

“Keith,” Pidge warned, “We can’t do this now…”

He yanked his arm out of her grip,

“You mean to tell me, that you know what this thing is?!”

The shorter girl bit her lip despondently but slowly nodded her head. Keith felt as if his entire world had fallen from under him. He stared back at the monster; his heart pounding rapidly in his chest as it inched ever closer to his position. 

“Keith,” Rolo’s hurried voice reached his ears, “I know you’re confused, but we really have to get out of here now; if you don’t move your ass in .05 seconds I’m going to carry you.”

His eyes widened in disbelief,

“Y-You know it too?” 

Rolo averted his gaze and that was all the answer that he needed.

“Just what are you people?!”

He almost felt guilty when he saw the pain shoot across Pidge’s face; it was if he was the one who betrayed her. 

She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something only for an explosively loud roar to pull his attention away from her. He turned just in time to see the monster gather a strange light in his gauntlet type hand before a ball of violet light shot out from it. Keith was frozen as the beam of light rocketed towards him at full speed. He didn’t know what it was, but something about that light seemed so familiar to him…

“KEITH LOOK OUT!”

The next thing he knew, he was thrown onto his knees and he was staring up into Pidge’s eyes as she all but lay on top of him; her arms almost wrapped around his shoulders in a protective embrace. 

He flinched as something splattered across his face; something that was extremely warm…

His hands shook as he slowly raised them to touch the only girl who was brave enough to reach out to him and become his friend.

“P-Pidge...”

She smiled brokenly; her frame shaking with apparent pain and tears streaming down her face,

“I’m sorry Keith…I’m…sor…ry…”

All he could do was sit there as his best friend fell on top of him completely; her dead weight nearly smothering him despite her much smaller build. He could hear Rolo’s enraged voice echoing behind him; the sorrow mingling with the triumphant roar of the monster as if it knew that it succeeded in taking a life. 

It was like he could suddenly hear everything.

He finally took notice that there were other people around them the entire time…probably from the first time the creature actually roared.

He could hear The Galaxy Garrison exploding into chaos and fear as the monster took fire...

The worst part was…

He could remember.

The monster standing before him now was the monster that haunted his nightmares.

He could remember the dreams that have plagued him for the past thirteen years. 

His parents’ voices seemed to be louder than ever; it was as if they were standing right beside him…warning him and apologizing to him and he didn’t know why. 

But most of all, he remembered THAT night...

The night that Shiro lost his arm...

_ “Keith...” _

He could hear a woman’s voice…

_ “We will seal away your Darkness…” _

There was so much pain…

So many tears…

So many fears…

heat…so much heat…they were all  _ burning _ . 

Everything was burning. 

There was going to be nothing left. His home was going to be destroyed before his eyes and he wouldn’t even know it…he wouldn’t even remember it… It was only because of Pidge, a best friend that he never truly knew, sacrificed her life to save his own.

There were cracks forming that he never knew about, but she did. And it was finally Pidge’s sacrifice that broke the remaining restraints the seal had on him.

He felt so  _ hot _ …

So hot…but it was so familiar…

The heat was his home…but strangely enough…so was the cold…

Especially the smell of sea salt and winter air…with brown hair and blue eyes… 

Red and blue markings trailing up a tanned arm; entangling over his heart.

THAT was his home…

And he forgot all about it…

“Keith!”

His head slowly turned towards the source of the voice; a familiar stranger with a body engulfed in water. Even from where he was he could see scales spreading across his face and extremities. He slowly raised his hand in an attempt to reach the figure; the subtle burning in his chest saving him from being swallowed by the heat…

“L...Lance?”

And everything went black. 


	5. On the Other Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance may or may not be a stalker, Coran may be old, but he is an uncle who cares, and things are starting to descend into madness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya Minna~
> 
> Here's another chapter for you! I know you are all excited for the action, and it is coming but I need to set the frame work.  
> I'm sorry for how dialogue heavy this chapter is and how OOC everyone is LOL I truly am trying!
> 
> I'll also take this moment to say that there's hints of Depression and Suicidal Ideation in this chapter, so if you will be affected by this I suggest you tread carefully. It's referenced twice in this chapter (both at the beginning of the POVs for each character) -- so it is skippable if you need to!
> 
> I hope you enjoy the chapter!

He hid in the comfort of the foliage as the mid-afternoon sun shone upon the town of the Galaxy Garrison. He knew that Hunk would probably be a little cross with him if he knew what he was doing right now. Not that the kind-hearted godling would actually hurt him or anything, but the threat of his disappointment was painful enough. 

Lance rested lazily against the bark covered trunk as he lounged on the somewhat sturdy branch of the old oak tree. His tanned arms were folded behind his head as peered through the dense leaves that surrounded him in an attempt to look through the window of the building that was in front of him. 

Coran liked to tease him about being a stalker and no matter how much he denied it to the older god’s face, even he had to admit that he had some stalker-like tendencies. Like now for example, when he was hiding in a tree spying on his mate who couldn’t even remember him.

God, that sounded horrible. 

He huffed through his nose in exasperation; it’s not like he had a choice or anything. If he wanted to be near Keith, he had to be willing to take the risk; even if that risk involved in Keith not knowing of his existence under any circumstances.

After Krolia and Hana Shirogane placed the seal on Keith’s memories, he was explicitly told by the heads of the Alliance that he was not to go anywhere near him. There was the slight chance that his mere presence, even as a stranger, in Keith’s life could result in the seal shattering and Zarkon and Haggar learning of the young demon slayer’s survival; that was something that could not happen, no matter how much it hurt to stay away from him. 

He grimaced at how painful the first five years were for him. 

He still felt guilty for all the problems he caused Allura, Hunk and the others during that period of his life. Luckily the years seemed to pass a little quicker due to the fact that they were all immortal, but it was still messy for all of them. Not only did they all have to acknowledge the fact that their parents might never return, but they also had to deal with one of their leaders being depressed and suicidal the majority of the time. 

His family tried so hard to help him through the separation…

Allura tried to heal him with her magic; although she didn’t quite understand the pain of losing a mate herself.

Hunk tried to rile him up and make him laugh; even if some of his jokes had a tendency to fall a little flat.

Plaxum tried to help him with her calm presence; though it was hard to keep calm when it felt like their entire world was falling apart. 

Coran tried to comfort him in a way only a father could, but it was hard to comfort someone who refused to be comforted.

The younger godlings of the tribe, like Marco, Luis and Veronica, tried to make him feel better as well, but there wasn’t much they could do to bring him out of his slump. 

After five years of wallowing in pain and despair, he had finally decided that he was going to end it all. 

He wasn’t sure if his brothers and sisters knew this or not, but it came very damn close. 

He had flown away from their camp without any true direction in sight. His goal was to go somewhere where his core could be dried up; so anywhere where water couldn’t thrive would be good enough for him. 

He also needed to be somewhere far enough away that his siblings wouldn’t be able to find him right away. So that they wouldn’t be able to  _ stop _ him.

He remembered flying for a very long time before a large stretch of desert appeared in the distance. From the sulphuric smell that entered his nose, he was able to tell that a volcano might even linger nearby; he knew that without a doubt that would be the best place to go. 

The monsters that lurked in that wasteland would be able to deal with his body once he passed, so that his half-shifted body wouldn’t accidently be found by the Nulls who didn’t understand their world. 

He lowered himself closer and closer to the ocean of sand as his wings grew ever fatigued from stress and strain. As he was about to take the plunge into the sandy depths, the smell of smoldering campfire, pine, and dark chocolate engulfed his senses. He vaguely remembered his instincts taking over at the moment; instead of falling towards his death, he was rocketing towards an outcrop in the distance. 

His heart beating heavily in his chest as he drew closer and closer to the scent that stopped him from ending his life. Somewhere in his mind, he knew that he shouldn’t give his hopes up…that maybe it could be someone else; but his bonded side shut down those fears immediately, for only one person could have that particular scent.

_ Keith. _

He had all but crashed onto the sand bed in his hasty landing; the red grains upturning as his body collided with the Earth. Without another thought, he willed his body to take the shape of his more human form. He felt his internal waves envelop his body as he ran across the sand mid-transformation; the sweet scent of home still brushing against his senses as he ran as fast as he could. It wasn’t long until he was standing on the outcrop he had spotted from the sky and he saw the house in the distance.

He was about to start his descent down the dunes when he heard voices. 

He immediately skidded to a stop and dove onto his stomach; hissing at the burning sand as it pressed on his skin. His heart raced as he recognized two of the voices. He narrowed his eyes through the shielding branches to see three young teenagers; two ravens and a brunette. The older looking raven and the brunette seemed to be bantering as the younger seemed to be trying not to laugh at the other two.

A tear fell from the corner of his eye as his eyes honed in on the laughing raven; a bright smile was spread across his pale face. He had clutched his hand over his heart as a familiar heat took residence there once more. He knew without a doubt that the young boy standing in front of him was Keith. 

He was no longer the broken shell of an eight year old boy that he was forced to leave behind in Marmora. He was a thirteen year old boy who was able to laugh and enjoy himself in ways that he hadn’t been able to after the fall of Olkarion all those years ago. 

It was as if he had never felt the pain of his father dying.

As if he had never felt the pain of his mother disappearing.

He wanted nothing more than to come sprawling through the sand that kept him separated from his mate, but he knew he couldn’t. 

After seeing Keith as happy as he was, he couldn’t bring himself to risk the chance of breaking the seal that kept his terrible memories at bay. He didn’t want to be the reason that Keith would lose his smile; he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he did. 

So instead of doing what he wanted to, instead of doing what his instincts told him to do, he turned his back on his mate and made his way back towards the other side of the outcrop.

It was then that he decided that he couldn’t wallow in grief anymore. 

He couldn’t hurt his family any more than he already had. He had to remain strong in case the day came when Keith would need him by his side once more. It was then that he decided that he would only check on his mate enough so that he could retain his sanity as well as protect him should the need arise.

At least, that was the  _ original  _ plan.

He frowned as he remembered the position he was in at the present time; spying on Keith as the raven attended his university classes. At the beginning he really did stick to the plan, he only came in timed intervals to watch over his mate. He usually watched over the male when he could feel Keith’s stress or if he was worried about something, but as the raven got closer and closer to reaching nineteen years of age the brunette just couldn’t stay away.

As much as Coran teased him about him, he did in fact know a few things. The only reason why his ‘stalker-like tendencies’ (as he  _ so _ affectionately called it) started getting worse was because he and Keith would typically be solidifying their bond around now. At the moment, their bond was at its minimal strength; they could feel each other’s presence (at least Keith would’ve been able to if the seal wasn’t in place) and perhaps strong emotions from each other. 

Once the bond was completed, it would be as if they were sharing a part of each other’s souls. 

In all honesty it was rather complicated, and that was only made worse by the fact that his other half had no idea that he existed.

However, as Keith’s birthday drew closer and closer the pull for the bond to be complete was driving Lance up the wall. And now that  _ today  _ was finally  _ the day _ , his bonded side was practically going on a rampage in his psyche. 

He’d been trying to fight it all day, but he knew that he was going to lose to it sooner or later and he was more than a little concerned about how Keith would react if he saw some weird borderline animalistic stranger come running towards him with hunger in his eyes.

Yeah, it probably wouldn’t go very well.

At all.

He knocked his head against the trunk in frustration only for an acorn to topple from somewhere above him and land straight in his eye. He cursed loudly and jumped from the pain that the acorn caused prompting him to fall rather ungracefully from his perch. He shouted as his back smacked the ground and cursed loudly once more; today really wasn’t his day. 

He was about to push himself back to his feet when a very distinguishable laugh reached his sensitive ears. He sat up so that he was no longer lying on the ground and crossed his legs in front of him; his hands squeezing his knees as his cheeks reddened in embarrassment. 

“Shut up,” He muttered, “It’s not that funny.”

Lance raised his head to look at yellow-adorned godling; who still had the same teasing smirk on his lips,

“Yeah it most definitely was; that’s what you get for acting like a creep Lance.”

If it was possible, Lance’s cheeks seemed to redden even more. He was pretty sure that his face was borderline purple at this point, which of course only made Hunk laugh even harder.

“I’m not a creep,” He denied vehemently, “I’m just checking up on him.”

The older raven rolled his eyes,

“Checking up on someone means showing up every few months or so, you on the other hand have been following him around every day for the past two weeks.”

Everything within the brunette wanted to deny what he said, but he knew that he couldn’t. Out of all his siblings, he was pretty sure that Hunk watched over him the most. He figured it had something to do with the fact that Hunk was the closest to him in age; so after what happened Hunk was the only one he could turn to.

Even more so than his own blood sister.  

“It’s not like I’m doing it on purpose,” Lance huffed, “My instincts just refuse to accept the fact that it’s better for Keith if we stay as far away from him as possible.”

Hunk was silent for a moment as he looked at Lance calculatedly. The brunette really hated when the Earth-based godling did this; it was as if the elder thought that he had to be careful with what he wanted to say around him and it really annoyed him. He opened his mouth to ask Hunk what was bothering him when the smell of campfire reached his nose. 

His heart began to thud heavily in his chest as he glanced around him wildly. Just as the heat started to gather in his chest, Lance grabbed onto Hunk’s forearm and managed to pull him into one of the nearby bushes that rested close to the oak tree they were standing beside. 

“Whoa buddy!” Hunk choked as he feel next to Lance in the bushes.

Lance ignored him and shushed him under his breath as he found himself peering through the leaves once more. His ocean blue eyes immediately landed on Keith who was being pulled out of the building by a girl with short auburn hair. The brunette recognized her from the other times he’d been spying on Keith, but for some reason he felt as if he remembered her from somewhere else; he just couldn’t put his finger on where. 

He watched silently as his mate was dragged towards the parking lot, like he was every day, when Keith suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Lance frowned at the action; it didn’t feel like the raven was in distress or anything, so why was he stopping? His eyebrows furrowed in confusion when Keith suddenly clutched his hand to his chest and started to look around him; what the…

Lance felt his heart drop into his stomach.

He was so careful…

There was absolutely no way…

He was brought out of his inherent stupor when something collided with his back. He hissed under his breath and rubbed the spot rhythmically as he glanced at his brother who evidently hit him as hard as he possibly could. He shifted his gaze to look at Keith once more only to see that he was moving again as if nothing had happened…

Maybe he just imagined it…yeah, that had to be it.

“Hey Lance,” Hunk stuttered out hesitantly, “What just happened?”

Lance took a deep, cleansing breath and shook his head,

“It was nothing.”

The raven haired godling frowned,

“Lance, that wasn’t nothing; it was like he felt you just now!”

The brunette averted his gaze,

“Hunk,”

“No,” The raven grabbed onto his arm, “Answer me Lance, did you interact with him in the past two weeks?”

The prince clenched his jaw and pulled his arm away,

“Do you honestly think I’m that stupid? Of course I didn’t; that would ruin his chance at a normal life! No matter how much I want him by my side, I would never wrench him away from a place where he could be happy.”

The immortal nineteen year olds watched each other carefully as if waiting for a fight. A few tense moments passed between them before Hunk sighed loudly and punched the bridge of his nose and Lance exhaled sharply before relaxing as well; he really needed to get a hold of himself.

“He still felt you,” Hunk whispered in disbelief, “Despite the fact that you haven’t interacted with him, he  _ felt  _ you.”

Lance shook his head adamantly,

“No, it was a coincidence.”

The raven’s frown deepened in concern,

“In our world there is no such thing as coincidences; you know that. The Blade prophesised that the two of you would unite and defeat Zarkon. It would only make sense for it to happen on Keith’s birthday.”

The brunette clenched his teeth tightly; the ice in his veins roaring at Hunk’s implications,

“I’m not going to let his life be ruined again and if that means never being with…”

“You think I don’t want him to be happy too?” Hunk interrupted him, “No matter what I thought about this decision, I stayed by your side and watched Keith grow up without the threats we had to face. 

“I was there with you before Marmora was destroyed and when Olkarion fell, and if I had to choose between this Keith and the mute child that never smiled, I’d chose this any day.” 

Lance felt his heart warm once more as Hunk’s words echoed in his mind. 

He knew that losing Keith was not only hard for him, but for the others as well. They had all become so accustomed to the younger raven’s inquisitive presence and shining demeanor that he had a permanent place in all their hearts; he was the baby brother that they all wanted to protect. 

Even the young godlings who didn’t understand his importance wanted to protect him. Hunk was especially attached to Keith and would constantly feed him his creations. The young raven was the only one outside of the clan that accepted Hunk’s anxious nature without pause and tried to make him feel like he was important.

After the destruction Olkarion, Keith lost his smile.

Of course, witnessing the murder of your father and your entire village at the hands of a rampaging monster would do that to anyone; especially a six year old boy. Lance and the rest of the Alteans never truly forgave themselves either. After all, it was one of their sisters that betrayed the Demon Slayer to Zarkon and the Galra; if it wasn’t for Nyma…

“Lance,” Hunk’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts once more, “If he is remembering you and the prophecy is being set in motion, we have to rally the Clan; the war is finally here and we have to be able to protect the humans this time.”

The corner of the brunette’s lip pulled into a frown,

“It doesn’t hurt to be ready I guess. We should tell Allura to contact her friends from inside the Alliance; whether we get along or not, we’re going to need their help so we need to reinstate the treaty.”

Hunk gulped,

“I have a good feeling that that won’t go over too well; we’ll have to be prepared for their refusal.”

“No,” Lance denied confidently, “They’ll overlook their hatred for us just this once; they’ll do it because like us, they want to save this world and they want to protect Keith.”

After a few silent moments, Hunk smiled at him warmly. Lance felt his lips twitch into a smile as his quintessence started to flow through his veins; there was a chance that they could finally end the suffering of the world. The Blades’ home of Marmora was destroyed as was the demon world of Daibazaal; it was only a matter of time before Earth met the same fate seeing as Zarkon had been conquering parts of the human plane for the past thirteen years. 

Even if their homes were gone, even if the Blades’ homes were gone, Lance and the rest of the Alteans were going to protect the only home that they had left. He refused to let Zarkon win this time. This time, everyone was going to make it out of this war alive. He won’t be burying his  comrades, not ever again. 

“I’m going to go tell the others what the plan of action is,” Hunk looked at him pointedly, “I take it that you’re going to stay here and stalk Keith some more?”

The brunette felt his cheeks heat up again,

“It’s not stalking!”

The older raven laughed loudly,

“Whatever helps you sleep at night; send a signal if you need us.”

“Yeah,” Lance scoffed and glanced to the side petulantly, “Like anything is going to happen…”

“Lance,” Hunk patted his shoulder, “I’m serious; if something goes down, you let us know, got that?” 

Lance sighed exasperatedly as he nodded in understanding. The Earth-based godling seemed to stare at him for a few more seconds before finally nodding and allowed his quintessence to shroud his body. The brunette’s nose wrinkled from the abundant smell of rock and dirt as he watched as Hunk took off into the air. Lance watched the large form disappear into the horizon before turning on his heel and leaving the university campus; he needed to track down Keith’s scent again.

He sighed again. 

He really  _ was  _ an obsessive stalker.

VLDVLDVLDVLD

Coran Hieronymous Wimbleton Smythe was lying in the tall grass watching the clouds go by.

This wasn’t very strange for him; in fact, it was something that he did often. There was just something about the way the clouds moved across the bright blue sky without any true purpose that grabbed his interest; especially on days like today when he woke up feeling like the entire world was about to go to hell in a handbasket. 

He was hoping that Lance was going to be around when he woke up that morning, but he wasn’t all too surprised to see that he wasn’t.

Like King Alfor, Lance was often up before the sun’s fingers latched onto the horizon; even more so these days. Everyone could tell that the prince was getting more restless as the days dragged on and everyone knew that that reason was none other than the Demon Slayer Keith Kogane. 

It was no secret that the Day of Reckoning was today; today was supposed to be the day that the young slayer became officially bonded to their young prince. With the way in which the years blur together for them, there was only one reason why they all knew that today was the slayer’s nineteenth birthday.

That reason was because young Veronica and her coming of age ceremony on the last Full Moon, and although Alteans aged slower than humans, they were approximately three in human years when Keith had first come into their lives on the day of Lance and Hunk’s coming of age ceremony. 

And how the time has passed since then.

From the very moment that their skin had touched, Lance’s entire life was in the hands of a three year old boy who could barely string more than three sentences together. Even at his age and with his experience, it wasn’t until Lance was forced away from the slayer that he realized just how important Keith was to him. 

When Lance first started to collapse into himself, it was truly a horrific sight.

The young prince refused to eat, he couldn’t sleep and sometimes when he thought no one was around he would fold in on himself and cry out into the night sky. The broken sound that used to tear out of his throat still gave him the shakes; there’s nothing worse than watching someone you care about fall apart from the inside out. 

They all had to sit back and watch Lance suffer like that for five years; he never thought time could pass by so slow. 

Everyone was worried about him.

Especially dear Allura and the ever sturdy Hunk. 

It was early one morning when Coran woke up to the sound of wings beating through the air harshly. He remembered running out of his hut only to see Lance’s form flying into the horizon. Something inside him told him that something bad would happen if he didn’t follow him and boy was he glad that he did. 

Initially, he was surprised when the young prince didn’t notice his presence following him; he could usually tell if Coran was nearby, but as the sulphuric smell of ash reached his nose he knew why Lance was so distracted. He watched in horror as the prince shot towards the sandy ocean like an arrow; a roar was about to be torn from his throat, afraid that his prince, his  _ son _ , was going to die. 

When suddenly the faintly familiar smell of campfire and chocolate reached his nose. 

His mind all but skidded to a halt when the scent reached him; he knew exactly who it was and apparently so did Lance for he immediately pulled out of his dive and headed straight for the outcrop. 

Coran remained in the air and watched him as the prince transformed into his human form and took off. He wanted to follow him and stop him from doing something stupid, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. He had to trust that Lance would make the right decision and return home safely; so instead of following him, he had turned around and returned home.

Even now, Coran wondered what Lance saw when he found Keith that day. Whatever it was, it pulled the prince out of the slump he was in and little by little he returned to the way he was before they were forcefully separated. There will always be a part of him that would hate the Hunter’s Alliance simply for the pain they caused his boy; he wasn’t sure if he would even be able to work alongside them when the time came. 

“Coran.”

The ginger man sighed through his nose and twitched his moustache as he was pulled out of his musings. He turned his head away from the clouds and found himself looking into the inquisitive eyes of the acting ruler of the Alteans, and Lance’s older sister, Allura. 

The platinum blonde was standing in front of him, her waist length hair pulled up into a neat bun at the top of her head.   


“What can I do for you Princess?” He turned his attention to her immediately, “Has something happened?”

The Princess scoffed,

“What isn’t going on? Everyone’s all frazzled because Lance didn’t come back with Hunk a few ticks ago.”

Coran rubbed his chin thoughtfully,

“He didn’t come back you say?”

Allura nodded her head and crossed her arms over her chest,

“But that’s not even the important part; Hunk says we need to prepare for battle, indefinitely.”

Coran pursed his lips and started making his way towards the rest of clan was situated; Allura leading the way with the poise of a ruler. He sighed wistfully. She has truly grown so much in the past thirteen years and has done so much for Alteans despite her father’s disappearance. 

“Are the Blades coming?” Coran glanced at Allura out of the corner of his eye as they walked away from the clearing, “It’s been forever since we’ve heard from them, and I fear that this is something that they would make themselves present for.”

Allura frowned and glanced away,

“I assume that they’re going to be informed, but I don’t know if they’ll make an appearance or not.”

“Princess Allura,” Coran warned reprovingly.

“Yes, yes Coran,” She sighed emphatically, “I know.”

As the pair got closer to village, Coran’s instincts only seemed to skyrocket. 

For the first time in forever, all the members of their family were present; well, everyone except for Lance of course. Hell, even Marco was there and the brunette preferred to act as a nomad more than stick around the village too often. 

Lance likes to say it’s because Marco has a stick up his ass and is too full of pride to want to be with them. But if you asked him, he would say that he had a feeling it had to do with rumor going around the village that Marco doing reconnaissance for the Clan.

Under Lance’s orders.

The silly boy truly could not fool anyone.

Especially someone like Coran Hieronymous Wimbleton Smythe!

“Coran, Allura,” Hunk greeted them as he wrung his hands subconsciously, “You made it just in time!”

He twirled his moustache,

“Sorry for making you wait m’boy; I just wanted to take a small kip under the clouds.”

“You chose a convenient time for that didn’t you?” Marco teased, “Only you would do that Coran.”

“Regardless,” Allura took over before it could get out of hand, “We are both here now; what is it that you need to inform us Hunk? Where has my baby brother gotten off to now?”

Hunk fiddled with his fingers, “The older members of the clan need to be prepared to go into battle; despite what Lance wants to believe, the prophecy is starting to come true.”

“The prophecy,” Allura whispered curiously, “What makes you think the prophecy is in motion; especially if Lance says that it isn’t?”

Other members of the clan seemed to make noises of agreement; even part of Coran wanted to agree with them, but he knew better. He turned his attention back to Hunk and looked at the much younger godling evenly.

“Something’s changed in the young demon slayer, right?”

Hunk nodded his head imperceptibly, 

“He’s starting to feel Lance’s presence and he swore to me that he hasn’t had enough interaction with Keith for the seal to be cracking because of him.”

Murmurs swept through the gathered clansmen; the day had finally come.

The time was drawing ever closer; it was almost time to end Zarkon’s reign of terror. 

Coran frowned at the thought of that; of course he wanted the Galra to be defeated, but what would the cost be? 

He was old enough to remember the full effects of the last war with Zarkon thirteen years ago, and he knows just how many lives were lost that day. He couldn’t help but wonder if all this was worth it sometimes; but, as he looked at the determined faces of his fellow Alteans, he knew that it was time for them to make a stand; Zarkon’s tyranny had to end, no matter the cost.

“What are we going to do?” Plaxum voiced nervously, “Do you have some sort of plan?”

Hunk looked up at the sky thoughtfully for a moment,

“Lance and I talked about it a little before we went separate ways and we decided that it was time for us to rekindle our treaty with the Hunter’s Alliance.”

Allura’s eyes widened dramatically,

“They detest our very existence; there’s a chance that they may not want to join a coalition with us again.”

“We have to try,” Hunk uncharacteristically argued, “The prophecy can’t be completed without our cooperation; even if they’re blinded by hatred, they should be able to see that.”

“I don’t know about that,” Allura muttered as she clenched her fist, “After what Nyma did…”

The Earth-based godling clenched his own fists in anger,

“Don’t bring  _ her  _ into this.”

“But Hunk m’boy,” Coran continued; his eyes burning, “Princess Allura has a point, Nyma broke the treaty and because of that their entire village was slaughtered; it is something that we must consider.”

Hunk pursed his lips,

“If they want to protect Keith, they’ll work with us willingly; especially since Takashi Shirogane a part of the Alliance’s council.”

Coran hummed and tapped his chin,

“That might actually work to our advantage.”

He turned to face the Princess to gauge her expression and saw that her confidence was slowly returning as well. A long forgotten fire was returning to her eyes and was beginning to influence everyone else in the clan. He was about to help divide the Alteans into attack formations only for a loud roar to shred through the once quiet camp. 

His attention instantaneously circled around the camp; praying that the roar of panic did not come from who he thought it did. However, that hope fled from his mind when he noticed that Allura had gone unusually pale.

“Lance?” She whispered fearfully. 

Another bloodcurdling roar tore through the air insistently and he immediately froze as a chill swept down his spine prompting his markings and wings to make themselves known; their Prince was calling them to battle. He whipped around to face Allura and the others and saw that they were all in similar states. He glanced up at the sky as another insistent roar shook through the camp.

“We need to move out now!” Allura shouted as she was consumed by a blue-ish white light, “Coran, and Hunk, you’re coming with me; the rest of you stay here and prepare your stations!”

Coran simply allowed his quintessence to surround him and took off into the air. His quintessence may not be as strong as Hunk or Allura’s but it was strong enough to be of use. He kept his eyes trained on Allura’s rapidly retreating figure and picked up speed; what had Lance gotten himself into now?


	6. When Two Sides Meet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance really needs to work on his stalking, but at least he's found redemption and was able to do what he was born to do...sort of...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Minna~
> 
> Here marks the end of my pre-planned chapters; this means that the posts may be a lot more delayed from now on -- so please accept my apologies in advance!   
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I apologise for all the OOC-ness that occurs and for how slow this seems to be moving; but hopefully it will start to pick up soon!
> 
> Thank you for all the support!

Lance sniffed the air around him in an attempt of find Keith’s scent. 

Usually it wouldn’t have been a problem, but of course today would have to be the day where everyone in the immediate area wanted to spend the day outside. Keith’s scent of campfire and chocolate was extremely unique for this town, particularly because of its temperate climate, but sometimes his scent managed to get shrouded from him by some weird cleanly smell and it really annoyed him; especially since the smell burned his sensitive nose. 

His nose twitched slightly at the thought before he shook it out of his head; now wasn’t the time to be distracted. He focused on walking down the streets once more; it couldn’t be hard to find a single person after all. He could always ask around too if he was really desperate. He sighed under his breath loudly and rolled his eyes at himself; he really sucked at this whole stalker thing.

Not that he  _ was _ a stalker.

As he pushed through the crowd of people, a warm wind brushed over him and ruffled his hair playfully. A small smile spread across his face when the sweet smell finally reached his senses. He moved his way as quickly as he could through the crowd; he had to have been close even if the wind carried Keith’s scent to him. Just as his impatience was about to get the better of him, a large building loomed in front of him. 

In the back of his mind he could recognize the bar; it was the one that Keith and that girl he was always with frequented on the weekends. Even if he did not know much about Keith’s friend, he did know that she was a good person. The fact that she put Keith at ease was also a bonus. He shook away the tangent of thought and pushed on the large wooden doors so that he could enter the bar. 

As soon as the doors swung open, his ear drums nearly exploded from the loud music and noise that erupted from inside. 

He tilted his head to the side; how was it that he couldn’t hear the music when he was outside? With his ears as sensitive as they were, he should’ve been able to hear music this loud no problem. Usually, he could hear conversations from people three blocks away from him. He frowned to himself as he walked deeper into the young adult cesspool; something just did not feel right to him at all. 

The hairs on the back of his neck and arms seemed to rise at the apprehension he felt. He was about to go back outside and guard the entire building from a safe distance when the warmth in his chest ignited once more. He lifted his head and tried to pinpoint where Keith was; his restlessness spurring him to at least get him in his line of vision. 

He maneuvered his way through the swarm of people smelling of alcohol and sweat; there was nothing else important to him at that moment other than that. As he presumably got closer the heat in his chest got warmer, and Lance could feel his instincts coming to the surface; rippling like waves. He grimaced to himself slightly before moving away from the crowd of people and stuck himself into the shadows of the bar. He slunk along the wall wordlessly as he slowly made his approach. 

His body immediately froze as Keith Kogane finally reached his sight; he really hadn’t been able to watch him properly until now. Sure he was hiding in the tree earlier, but Hunk was distracting him too much. Lance stared longingly at the now nineteen year old man as he leaned against the open bar with his red cup on the table. His pale cheeks were slightly tinted pink from the alcohol he was drinking and his raven hair was as messy as always; but even if it was messy, the raven locks suited him.

Even if it was a  _ mullet _ of all things.

What warmed Lance’s heart the most was the small smile that had commandeered Keith’s usually scowling face. Even though he smiled more than he did when he was child, he did spend most of his teenage life frowning. 

He had a feeling it was due to the tumultuous relationship that he shared with the Shiroganes after what happened in Marmora all those years ago, but he couldn’t be positive. All that mattered was that for the first time in almost thirteen years, Keith was smiling on his birthday and Lance couldn’t be happier. 

Just like he told Hunk, all he wanted was for Keith to be happy. 

If all he had to look forward to with him was to forever watch him from a distance, he could be happy knowing that his mate was happy; even if his instinctual side didn’t particularly agree with him in regards to the forced distance. 

He was immediately wrenched from his thoughts as a familiar burning sensation started to explode in his chest. His ocean blue eyes widened and he focused on what was happening and noticed that the raven was staring in his general direction.

He forcibly pulled his eyes off his mate and made his body turn towards the entrance once more; his heart pounding furiously in his chest as he pulled farther and farther from his mate. He burst through the front doors and heaved a sigh of relief.

However, that was short lived for the burning in his chest didn’t seem to dissipate; in fact, it only seemed to get more and more intense. He clenched his fists tightly as he realized that Keith was heading towards the front door as well. 

He looked around himself hastily before running around the side of the building and started scaling the wall as fast as he could; he had to get somewhere where he could transform and fly away before he noticed his presence any more than he already did. 

His heart was stuck in his throat as he finally reached the slanted shingles of the roof. He gathered his quintessence around himself and jumped off the roof in just as the indigo eyed boy came bursting out of the bar. 

Lance exhaled through his nose as the wind caught his large wings; that was a little too close for comfort. 

But at the same time, it only meant one thing; Hunk was absolutely right. 

Keith was able to sense his presence. 

The prophecy was in motion, no matter how much he wanted to stop it. He was about to turn his direction towards the Altean village when a putrid smell entered his extremely heightened senses; the smell was so strong that it had almost knocked him right out of the air.

What was worse was that it was familiar.

Dread built up like a wall in his gut that stirred him to fly to the source of the stench. Deep down, he knew that poisonous smell; he knew without a doubt in his heart that it belonged to Nyma. He didn’t want to believe it, even after all these years, he didn’t want to believe that she had gone to Zarkon’s side. 

But there was no other explanation for it.

It was because of Nyma that Olkarion was destroyed.

It was because of Nyma that the balance between Marmora, Altea, Daibazaal, and Earth were irrevocably erased. 

He may have been her brother at one point, but he wasn’t anymore. 

After the fall of Olkarion, Lance wanted to save her from the path that she had taken. As Prince of the Alteans and second in line for rule, he felt that he needed to save her from the darkness. It was Coran and Hunk who stopped him from doing so; after all, sometimes there were demons that just could not be saved.

It so happened that Nyma was one of those demons. 

The only way he would be able to fight her on even ground was if he could remember that the Nyma he grew up with no longer existed. He flapped his mighty wings swiftly as he got closer and closer to the source of the smell. 

However, what he saw in the distance wasn’t something he was expecting.

He was expecting to see Nyma and maybe an army of Zarkon’s finest Galra soldiers; what he was not expecting was to see the robeast Myzax moving towards the unsuspecting town of the Galaxy Garrison. 

He all but stopped moving his wings in disbelief as he stared down the monster that the Shiroganes, Krolia, and  _ Keith _ had sacrificed so much in order to seal away. That monster should not be moving; he watched it fall with his own eyes on that night eleven years ago in Marmora. 

“Lance, son of Alfor and Prince of Altea,” A condescending voice called out to him from the shoulder of Myzax, “I should have expected that you’d try and stand in my way; I was foolish to think that you wouldn’t remain near the Demon Slayer.”

Lance growled furiously,

“Nyma.”

“Funny,” The godling of poison smirked, “I thought I told you not to speak to me again. Of course, if I lost as badly as you did, I would repress that memory too. After all, it was because of your weakness that baby Keith lost his family and home, was it not?”

Ocean blue eyes became turbulent ice,

“Shut the hell up! You betrayed us, your family; how could you do that?!”

“We’ve already been through this,” Nyma said lazily, “I’d rather finish what I failed to do thirteen years ago.”

“Oh yeah,” Lance snarled, “And what’s that? Kill me? You’d never be strong enough to do that; you wouldn’t be able to come even close.”

The blonde haired Altean laughed loudly,

“Who said anything about killing you? There’s a reason why Myzax has been revived and it’s my job to make sure that the final thorn in Zarkon’s side is ultimately destroyed.”

Lance roared furiously and dove at Nyma as if he embodied his namesake,

“Like hell I’m going to let that happen; I’m not letting you or this monster anywhere near him!”

Nyma smiled coyly as she jumped off the massive shoulder of the robeast and into the blistering sky. The scent of dense poison engulfed Lance’s senses before fairly large burgundy coloured wings burst from the smoke and she attacked him head-on sending them both tumbling towards the forest covered ground. Lance raised a hand shrouded in water and swiped at the poison godling causing Nyma to let go of him before they reached the forest floor.

He glared at the poison godling as he inhaled through his mouth to center himself and felt the ice cold waves of his quintessence churn through his veins. Just as Nyma righted herself in midair, Lance exhaled and released a tidal wave of water that managed to skim the tops of the evergreen trees as it rocketed towards the slightly off balance Nyma. However, just as the water was about to reach the poison godling, Nyma flew to the side and immediately avoided the wrath of Lance’s power. 

“You still think you can beat me,” Nyma laughed mockingly, “You never could when we were children, and you won’t be able to now.”

Lance opened his mouth to retort only for Nyma to fly at him without hesitation. 

He moved to avoid his adversary only for her to move with him and clamp onto his large wings to prevent him from moving anywhere; the only reason why he was still airborne was because she was holding him up. 

“I told you,” She smiled viciously as she raised a poisonous hand, “You  _ can’t beat me _ .”

The Altean Prince roared in pain as her poisonous hand struck the back of his neck; the poisonous sludge rolling down the scales of his upper neck to the small of his back. In the back of his mind, he could feel the other members of the Altean clan stirring in worry, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. As Lance felt Nyma’s hand releasing her grip on his wings, he quickly latched his own into Nyma’s sides.

“It’s true that you used to beat me all the time when we were children,” Lance growled, “But, that is also your downfall!”

Summoning all the strength and pain within him, Lance pointed his head towards the sky and let loose a bloodcurdling roar that even threatened to crack the very world in two; his voice rippling through the atmosphere in sonic waves. What was more important was the sound of immense pain that had erupted from Nyma who was still holding onto him. She flinched at the harsh sound coming from his once sister, but ignored it and instead tightened his grip on her sides and flipped Nyma over his head and into the trees below. 

He barely paid any attention to where she fell before he turned his attention towards the demon that was heading in the direction of the Galaxy Garrison. His eyes widened in fear as he realized just how close to the town Myzax had gotten in just that small amount of time; it was practically sitting on top of the city. He could feel Allura and the others transforming and heading towards him to figure out what happened, but that wasn’t important; he had to save that town…he had to save Keith.

He flapped his wings in an attempt to head back to the town once more only for him to hiss loudly in pain; his wings and back burning from the poison that Nyma had drenched his skin in. He watched worriedly as Myzax let loose a sky tearing roar. It was attacking the one he was meant to protect and once again Nyma’s poison was preventing him from doing his life’s duty…

NO! 

Never again. 

That was not going to happen again! 

Too much has been sacrificed for that to happen! 

He wasn’t going to lose Keith  _ ever again _ !

Lance forced back the pain and flapped his wings forcefully as he shot towards the town at full speed. As he got closer and closer to the town, the citizen’s screams of terror started to echo through his mind like an orchestra of never ending pain. 

He flinched as the sound of Myzax’s destruction joined the symphony like a resounding drum. He flew over the rampaging demon’s shoulder as a flash of purple light shot from its hand. He was about to ignore the random blast and search for Keith among the chaos only to hear…

“KEITH LOOK OUT!”

He felt his very world come to an end as he focused on the supposedly random purple flash of light only to see that it was rocketing like a missile at the one he wanted to give everything to protect. 

The worst part was all he could do was watch; he wouldn’t be fast enough. 

His chest burned as Keith stared at the incoming attack that would end his life, when suddenly his mate was pushed out of the way. Lance stared, frozen, as the attack struck the girl that Keith had always hung out with. 

Lance’s heartbeat quickened as he descended towards Keith once more; even if his new hope was ignited in the face of death and despair. He blocked out all outside distractions as he flew towards his mate; turning back into human form when he was still five meters or so from the ground. He knees almost gave out on him from the strain of his landing, but he had to keep going. He had to keep running. The situation was too similar to how it was back then. It would only be a matter of time now that the seal would break and everything would come rushing back.

That girl died like Keith’s father.

That girl faded away like Keith’s mother.

That girl was destroyed like Keith’s entire village.

The air smelt like  _ pure fire _ .

He cursed loudly as a blistering, hot wind pushed against his cool flesh and ruffled his brown hair threateningly. He blanketed his ice around his body as the comforting burn that used to appear when he was near Keith began to boil over. 

He was losing him. 

His eyes narrowed as Keith coveted the entirety of his vision. One second, he was staring lifelessly at the girl in his arms with another male standing behind him screaming at the top of his lungs and then the next second, an intense  _ red _ light exploded outwards from the raven’s body causing him to shield his eyes instinctively.

When he opened them, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. 

Surrounding Keith and the body of the girl was an insurmountable amount of fire blades coiled around their bodies like a massive tail or spring. The robeast roared from somewhere behind Lance’s rapidly cooling body which told him that the demon had noticed his challenger.

He had to get to him NOW!

“KEITH!”

Time seemed to freeze all together as Keith jumped at the sound of his name. Almost as if he were in slow motion, the raven’s head turned to face the brunette; dark red and purple markings covering the left side of his face.

It was like back then. 

He felt his scales sprout along his body as his fear and despair started to awaken. He was too late; his quintessence had already started to consume him.

“L-Lance?”

Lance felt his heart lift at the sound of his name tumbling off the exhausted raven’s lips. He pushed his own quintessence into his heels just as Keith’s coil of fire erupted from their stagnant position and shot simultaneously at the unguarded Myzax. The robeast let out a roar of pain that rivaled Lance’s when he was fighting Nyma; it was enough to nearly shatter his ear drums, but that didn’t matter. 

What did matter was Keith collapsing lifelessly into the snow-like ash.

The brunette slid across the ground on his knees; his water creating ice in his path as he stopped in front of Keith and pulled the ashen boy into his arms. He adjusted the raven so that he was resting in his lap and used the back of his hand to push his dark hair out of his face. A small sigh of relief left his lips when he realized the marks that appeared with the opening of the seal had disappeared completely. 

“It’s  _ you _ …”

He jumped at the accusatory voice and turned to face the man kneeling to his left. Lance took in the man’s silver hair and his eyes were glaring at him darkly; though they were rimmed in tears. Pulled against his chest was the body of Keith’s friend; her life’s blood staining the man’s purple jacket. 

“It was you,” The man growled, “It’s because of Altean spawn like you that Myzax managed to be reborn!”

“No,” Lance denied adamantly, “You have it all wrong! We would never…wait, how…”

“Isn’t it obvious,” He spat, “As the  _ prince  _ of your filthy clan, you should know who I am.”

The brunette’s eyes widened in disbelief; not a single part of him wanting to believe what the man in front of him is insinuating. His eyes immediately wandered to the dead girl lying in the man’s arms and it was only then that the familiarity he felt towards her made sense. Although he could not remember her name, he recognized her from the times he would visit Keith in Marmora. 

She was the youngest daughter of the Holt family, one of the hunter families that he respected the most, and one of Keith’s closest childhood friends. 

“Step away from him,” The man slowly laid the girl on the ground, “Or things will get bloody very quickly.”

Lance’s hands tightened around the unconscious raven,

“No, you have to understand…we never meant for this to happen!”

The man laughed bitterly,

“Why don’t you tell that to Pidge? Oh wait you can’t, because you monsters just killed her!”

Lance flinched guiltily, 

“No!”

Both of the men froze as a familiar roar tore through the air once more; awakening them from their reprieve and thrusting them back into a never ending nightmare. Lance stared up at Myzax; demon slaying fire continuously burning his extremities, but the monster still moving as if its life was not being sucked out of him bit by bit.

“I don’t understand,” The man stared up at the demon fearfully, “That was slaying magic; Keith’s quintessence should have been able to destroy it.”

“Don’t ask me,” Lance muttered as he covered Keith protectively, “And even if you did, you probably wouldn’t listen to me anyway.”

“You…”

Another loud trill echoed through the air; only this time it was followed by another and then another. Lance smiled brightly as the familiar shapes of Allura, Hunk and Coran appeared in the sky; all of them roaring their respective elements towards the unsuspecting robeast. Myzax roared in excruciating pain as beams of light, earth, and wind attacked the places where Keith’s slaying magic had struck. The brunette watched wide eyed as the robeast started to turn to dust before his eyes.

_ Two Clans must Unite as One _

Lance smirked to himself as the weakening Myzax turned to face him once more. 

The godling  tugged on the coat of the man standing beside him forcing the man to one knee. The man glared at him distrustfully until Lance passed Keith to him carefully. He ran his warm hand along Keith’s cheek one more time before nodding at the surprised hunter before getting to his feet and stalking towards the crumbling robeast predatorily. 

“After thirteen years,” He growled as his waves once again consumed his body, “your reign of terror will end!”

Almost as if responding to his challenge, the robeast roared and swung a fist towards the brunette. The Altean merely smirked as he sent all his power into his fist and swung at the monster that was more than three time his human size. A large explosion encompassed the area as the two powers connected, only for Myzax’s hand, arm, shoulder, chest, torso, leg, other leg, other arm, other hand, and finally head to dissolve into dust. 

Lance stared down at the pile of dust that used to be the monster that destroyed two villages in one night and half a town in a matter of hours. 

The nightmare that was Myzax was finally over. 

He was so immersed in what now lay before him that he didn’t even notice when the others transformed into their human forms and landed beside him; or he didn’t notice until someone smacked him over the back of the head.

“Ouch!” Lance hissed under his breath and turned to glare at Allura, “What the quiznak? Was that really necessary?!”

“Yes!” Allura said without hesitation as she grabbed onto his ear, “What did I tell you about pulling stunts like this?!”

“AH!” He growled as he struggled out of her reach, “You didn’t say anything!”

“Lance, m’boy,” Coran sighed from his other side, “Don’t even try.”

“But Coran...”

“Seriously Lance,” Hunk shook his head disapprovingly, “I told you to call us for help as soon as you needed it.”

“But I did!”

“Tch, and you’re supposed to be our next king,” Allura continued under her breath as if she hadn’t been interrupted at all, “How re you going to do that if you’re dead?!”

“‘Llura, there’s no reason for me to be king if you’re  _ queen _ .” Lance scowled pointlessly.

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!”

Lance tore his attention away from his family squabble and looked towards the man he left in charge of Keith. He immediately sobered and walked to the clearly shaking man; his family walking supportively behind him. He didn’t say anything as he knelt in front of the man and attempted to take Keith back into his hold only for the man to move slightly out of his reach.

“We didn’t bring Myzax,” The brunette told the man calmly, “We would never bring harm to Keith or your clan, and you have to believe that.”

“Like hell I do,” The man stated defensively, “I know one of your kind betrayed us the night Olkarion was destroyed; where there’s one rotten egg, there’s always more.” 

Lance clenched his fist tightly,

“That’s not true!”

The brunette paused when he felt Allura place her hand on his shoulder; her demeanor completely different from just moments ago. He shifted his gaze to her and found that her blue eyes had fallen upon the body of Pidge lying on the ground. He opened his mouth to tell her who she was only for her to look at him with intense need burning in her eyes.

“Lance,” She whispered, “We need to heal that girl.”

He frowned sadly,

“You can’t; she’s already died.”

“No,” She shook her head adamantly, “I can still feel her life force; that girl is still, most definitely,  _ alive _ .”

Lance’s eyes widened,

“Are you absolutely positive ‘Llura? You have to be absolutely sure.”

“Lance, this is what I’m good at; now move out of my way so I can heal her.” 

He glanced at the fallen girl once more for a brief moment before nodding his head. Allura went straight for the girl only for the man to try and stop her from going anywhere near the body.

“I won’t let you anywhere near her!”

“Please,” Allura inclined her head to the devastated man, “Please let me help your friend; I can help her!”

“No!”

With a twitch of his moustache, Coran shouldered his way around Lance and grabbed onto the hunter’s shoulder; though he was careful not to jostle Keith too much.

“Listen here sonny,” Coran scolded sternly, “Princess Allura can save your friend, so let her unless you want her to die.

A tense silence engulfed them, before the hunter’s quiet voice broke it.

“Fine.”

Lance faced the hunter head on,

“What?”

“Okay,” He bowed his head towards Allura; tears gathering in his eyes, “Please help her; if there’s a way.”

The silver haired godling nodded her head seriously before moving past the hunter and kneeling next to Pidge with her familiar pale blue light magic pulsating around her hand. Lance tilted his head towards Allura signaling for Coran to go watch her so that she didn’t exhaust herself. The ginger saluted him silently before wandering to Allura’s side watching her closely. 

“We’re your enemies,” The hunter’s voice whispered, “Why would you want to help us?”

Lance sighed and tilted his head to the sky,

“Because even though you saw us as your enemies, we never truly saw you as ours. Sure, some of our kind does not want to trust you, but the fact is we’re going to have to if we all want to survive this war.” 

The hunter hummed slightly,

“That’s true, but will you be able to trust us enough to see this all the way through?”

The brunette felt his brothers shift slightly behind him, but he kept his gaze focused solely on the slumbering slayer in the hunter’s arms.

“Even if we argue and don’t get along, one thing will always remain the same for me,” He smiled somewhat brokenly, “I’ll  _ always  _ believe in Keith.”

“At least that’s something we can both agree on,” A friendly male voice cut through the tension, “Prince Lance, son of Alfor.”

The brunette felt his family tense once more at the unexpected voice, but he really couldn’t be surprised; it was a matter of time after all. 

Lance turned away from the hunter and Keith to face the source of the voice with a small smile on his face. A male with short, military-style raven hair with a pure white fringe stood five meters to his left with his arms crossed over his chest; silver prosthesis shining in the rays of the reappearing sun. 

His grey eyes were both welcoming and narrowed at him defensively. His eyes lingered briefly on the team of hunters congregated behind him; he was probably looking at the Council of the Hunter’s Alliance.

“It’s nice to see you again,” He smiled faintly, “Takashi Shirogane.”


End file.
